


The Wall and the Flower

by Ricecakes123



Series: ScarletWolf [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wanda Maximoff - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coming Out, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Cutesy, Cuties, Explicit Language, F/F, Fanfiction, Fluff and Angst, LGBTQ Female Character, and they were ROOMMATES
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-09 09:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20992469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ricecakes123/pseuds/Ricecakes123
Summary: Part of the ScarletWolf series. A retelling of Claire and Wanda's relationship in an alternate universe where they are roommates in college.





	1. Move-In Day (Wanda’s POV)

“You’re sure you got everything?” I asked Pietro as I closed the trunk of his car and walked around to the front passenger seat. His light blonde hair glistened in the early afternoon sun as he waved me off, opening his door.

“Oh hell yeah, I got everything. And if I missed something, I can always just run to the store and get it.” He got into the truck and started engine. I continued to stand beside the truck, staring back at our apartment, the building that had been my home for the past few years.

Touching the gold locket around my neck, I wiped away the small tear that ran down my cheek. _Momma and Papa would be proud of you. This is what they always wanted for you. _I was pulled out of my thoughts with the blaring noise of Pietro’s hand slamming down on the horn. I groaned and cursed in Sokovian under my breath and opened the door, getting into the truck.

The drive was long, partly because of traffic and largely because of Pietro’s black-hole of a stomach. By the time we got to campus, it was packed. Cars were parked all along the streets (some even going out of their way to create their own spots so they could be close to the dorms) and students walked the different paths lugging large boxes and bins while shouting directions at their family members. Loud music blared from the speakers of some guy’s boombox that sat outside of a dorm and people huddled around it, jamming out to the music and presumably making friends.

I leaned against the window of Pietro’s truck, feeling overwhelmed by the chaotic atmosphere of the campus that did nothing for my anxiety, and had to tell myself (many times) that it would only be like this for the first few days, two weeks max. Once classes started and the workload started to pile up, things would settle down. I hoped.

Pietro parked in front of the administration building and helped me out, leading me down to where we had to register and where we would be given our housing information. I knew it was unlikely, but I prayed that Pietro and I were given the same room, or at the very least the same building. We’ve been joined at the hip since our birth and very rarely did I do anything without him. Pietro was always the adventurous and social one that made a ton of friends and went out and did fun things. I, on the other hand, stayed cooped up in the apartment reading or writing or watching TV. That’s not to say that I didn’t go out and have fun, because I did. It was just with Pietro and his friends; I didn’t have friends of my own.

Nervously, I grasped at my dark auburn hair and tied it in a high ponytail and played with the many rings on my fingers. Pietro looked over at me as we stood in line and moved his hand to hold onto mine, stopping my nervous habit. Looking into my green eyes, he gave me a small smile. He always knew how to calm me down. The line moved fast, and before I knew it we were next. Pietro and I filled out all the paperwork that was given to us as we moved down the table, until we got to the end.

“Alright and who do we have here?” the Resident Life administrator said, more to herself than as a genuine question. “Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins?”

“That’s right,” Pietro said, a smirk on his stubbled face. The woman smiled at us and filled out her part of the paperwork before digging through another pile of papers.

“Okay, here we go. Pietro you’re gonna be in Simmons Hall room 234. Here’s your combination.” She gave Pietro his room combination as well as a map of the campus, a list of upcoming campus events, a calendar, a list of all available clubs, and his student ID. He smiled and thanked her and stepped out of the way. The woman once more started to shuffle through the pile again before stopping at my name. “And Wanda—that’s a very pretty name, Wanda—you’ll be in Ivy House room 304 and here is _your _room combination.”

The woman proceeded to give me my combination and the same packet of information that Pietro got and gave us a smile as we started to walk out of the room.

“Welcome to Browne University!” Pietro turned and waved at her and we walked back outside to his truck.

I frowned and stared ahead, panicking on the inside. I heard Pietro’s voice speaking to me, but I didn’t pay attention to the words. All I could focus on was the pounding of my own heart as I was faced with the inevitable fact that I was being separated from Pietro. I mean, I guess I always knew this would happen, especially when we both agreed to come here, but…I guess I still had _some _hope that we’d be together. We weren’t even in the same dorm. What if I needed him to help calm my anxiety or when I had a nightmare? Could I truly rely on my roommate to deal with my bullshit?

Pietro stopped in front of me and snapped his fingers in my face, pulling me from me internal meltdown and said, “Are you listening to me?”

“I’m sorry, I was…distracted. What were you saying?” Pietro’s face softened as his blue eyes stared into my green eyes, looking for something—some semblance of an answer.

“Are you okay, sestra (sister)?” he asked, his deep voice gentle. He placed his hands on my shoulders and crouched a bit to become level with me and continued to stare into my eyes. I forced a smile and nodded my head. He scowled but didn’t say anything more. After a moment, he pulled away and got in his truck. “Come on, let’s find your dorm and get you set up.”

○○○

To make matters worse, I found out that not only were me and Pietro _not _living in the same building, but that my dorm and his were on the opposite sides of campus! I didn’t want to live here by myself, but for Pietro’s sake, I put on a brave face and helped him carry my stuff up to the third floor. It was safe to say that he was doing a lot better than me.

We finally got to the third floor and was met with a very peppy jock-type guy wearing a red and blue letterman jacket and jeans with golden blonde hair and striking blue eyes. His large and broad shoulders were clearly visible despite the jacket and he had a friendly smile plastered on his unblemished face.

“Hey guys. My name’s Steve and I’m the RA of this floor. Do you need any help finding your room or bringing stuff up?” Steve asked in a friendly voice. Pietro narrowed his eyes and stepped in front of me before he continued to walk past Steve. He made sure to push his shoulders back and stand a little taller as he passed.

“No thanks. We got it.”

“Alright, well if you need any help, just let me know. I’m in room 315.” Steve turned and walked down the other end of the hall, asking people if they needed help with their stuff. Once he was out of earshot, Pietro huffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes.

“You didn’t have to be rude,” I told him, chuckling at his childish and immature nature.

“You don’t get it Wanda because you’re a girl and you’re well…you, but that gut, that _Steve_,” he spat his name out with venom dripping from his words, “he was hitting on you.”

“He was not hitting on me,” I corrected him. Pietro tended to overreact when it came to boys. Not that I’ve ever been interested, which he knew that. I’ve been on a few dates with guys, even going as far as…doing other things in my recent past with them—my face started to heat up at that though—but it never felt right? It wasn’t until Kathy Harding kissed me in sophomore year when I discovered why none of my relationships with guys never worked, though I pretty much ignored it. I’m not quite sure why I decided to stop fighting it now, but when I finally told Pietro he was very understand and maybe even a little relieved at the prospect of me not liking guys, claiming “it would make my life easier.”

“Oh sestra, you can be _so _naive. Just because you’re not gaga for guys doesn’t mean that they’re not gaga for you. I see the way that they look at you and I just want you to be safe.” I put the box that I was holding down on the floor in the hallway outside my room and embraced him as best as I could considering that he hadn’t put his box down.

“Volim te brate (I love you, brother),” I said. Pietro chuckled and tried his best to crane his neck down to place a small peck of a kiss against my hairline.

“I love you too. Now come on, let’s get your stuff in first before we unpack.”

I opened the door to my room and was greeted with what was probably a standard college dorm: white walls with closets on either walls, two bare beds, two desks, two dressers, and one window that sat parallel to the door. Pietro carried in his box and placed it on the floor next to one of the empty beds, claiming mine before he left and headed in the direction of the steps, probably going back out to the truck to get the rest of my stuff. I followed his lead, carrying in my box and placed it next to the one on the floor before following Pietro to the truck.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take too long for me and Pietro to fully unpack my stuff and decorate my room. My roommate hadn’t arrived yet, and because I didn’t feel like sitting in an empty room by myself, I convinced Pietro to let me help him set up his room. Unlike me, Pietro’s roommate was already in the room was in the process of setting up his side of the room.

His back was turned towards the door as he stared at the wall holding a poster of what looked like a blueprint? He was a little short with dark hair and was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. He was muttering to himself but paused and turned when he heard us enter further into the room. Getting a look at his face, I noticed the thin pencil goatee that was growing around his mouth. A big smile made its way onto his face.

“Hey so you must be my roommate,” he said to Pietro, placing the poster down on his bed and held out his hand for a shake. “My name’s Tony. Tony Stark.”

“Pietro. And this is my sister, Wanda.” I gave him a small smile and waved and shook his hand when he held it out to me.

“Nice to meet you. Sorry it’s a little bit of a mess. JARVIS, remind me to get some wall putty tomorrow.”

“JARVIS?”

_“I’ll add wall putty to your list,” _the male automated voice of an Alexa said from the corner.

“Oh yeah. I found a way to reconfigure an Alexia device and renamed it JARVIS. Now he can do…pretty much whatever I tell him to. And I got him synced up to my phone. He’s practically better than Siri,” Tony said as he shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant way.

“That’s…really cool man. So you’re into building things?” Pietro asked. Tony smiled and shrugged again.

“I guess so. Engineering and science are two of my main interests nowadays. What about you, what are you into?”

“Track and sports in general I guess. But in terms of school, physical therapy.”

“Nice. What about you, Wanda was it?”

I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest and said, “I don’t really have any interests. I mean I like to write, but as for school, I’m undecided.” Tony nodded his head in understanding and went back to setting up his stuff, occasionally yelling at JARVIS to remind him to do something or to add some forgotten supply to his growing shopping list.

It took a little longer for us to set up Pietro’s stuff, mostly because Tony kept talking to us—or rather Pietro—and kept distracting him, but once we were finished, me and Pietro collapsed on his freshly made bed, fully exhausted after the day’s events. We did a lot of work and I was starving. I had forgotten that I didn’t really eat lunch today.

We spent a little more time hanging out in his room and talking to Tony before Pietro couldn’t stand the sound of his own growling stomach anymore and led me out of his room and down to his truck where we drove off in search of a good place to grab food. After fifteen minutes of driving, we came across a pizza place and he pulled into a parking spot outside and jumped out, exclaiming how hungry he was.

The pizza was delicious, but it didn’t last long. Before I knew it and before I was ready, we were back in the truck with Pietro driving back to campus, heading in the direction of my dorm. He pulled up outside and looked over at me, watching me stare at the front doors, a small tear rolling down my face. I turned my head sharply when I felt his thumb graze my cheek, wiping the tear away.

“I know, sestra,” he whispered. “I know it’s different, but you’ll be okay. I know you will. And if you need me, I’m right here.” He placed a kiss against my forehead and unlocked my door. Taking a shaky breath, I opened it and stepped out, taking small and delicate steps up to the door. As my hand reached the knob, I turned back and looked directly into Pietro’s face, giving me an encouraging smile. I opened the door and stepped inside and walked the three floors up to my room. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was lie in my bed, cry, and go to sleep. Opening my door I was surprised when I saw that someone was already in the room

A girl sat on her bed with headphones in, though the music was so loud that it blared through—which defeated the purpose—and was painting her nails. The scent of nail polish made me gag and I walked over to the window in the middle of the room and opened it, letting in some fresh air before turning to my supposed roommate.

She had pale skin and flaming red hair that fell close to her elbows in thick curly waves. Her eyes were a dark color, but from the angle I couldn’t tell what color they were, but I assumed they were brown. A long scar resembling claw marks ran from her left temple and down the left side of her face, past her eye and to her chin. Ouch! That must’ve been painful.

“Can I help you with something?” she asked, not looking up from her nails, her tone bitter and sarcastic. I blinked at her and turned away to sit on my bed. Ignoring her, I kicked off my shoes and laid down against the clean sheets and closed my eyes. I prayed that tonight was a night in which I wasn’t plagued by nightmares and allowed myself to drift off into sleep. Hopefully tomorrow would be better.


	2. School is Overrated (Claire’s POV)

“You don’t really have to leave, you know that right, Bicky?”

Bucky laughed and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his pants. His long dark hair bounced and his shirt rippled by the movement.

“Come on, Claire Bear, you’re gonna be fine.” He stepped closer to me and wrapped me up in a big hug and pressed a kiss against my hair. I nuzzled my face into his broad chest and held him tighter, keeping him from letting me go. “I’m proud of you.”

I clenched my eyes shut, stopping the flow of tears that threatened to spill from me eyes and tightened my grip on Bucky. After a few minutes of hugging, he sighed and tried to pry my arms off him.

“Claire, let go.”

“No.”

“Come on, everything will be okay. I’ll be up to visit before you know it. Come on. Let go.”

“Can you come up next weekend?” I asked him as I looked up into his dark blue eyes, my chin pressing against his abs. He smiled at me and nodded his head. “Pinky promise?” I held up my outstretched pinky and giggled when Bucky sighed but did the same.

Interlocking our pinkies together he said, “I promise. I’ll be up here next weekend.”

Satisfied with my answer, I let him go and followed him out of my dorm, watching him drive away. Once his ugly beat up blue beetle drove out of sight, a small tear rolled down my cheek. In fear of looking like a cry-baby, I quickly wiped it away and headed back to my room. It was hard having an older brother that was ten years older than you; by the time you get to experience things, they’ve already done it. Take college for instance: I’m excited to start my college years, but I just wish Bucky could experience it with me. He’s the only one that I’m really close with. I don’t have a lot of friends, never did and probably never will.

I closed the door to my room and sighed at all the stuff that didn’t get unpacked. Again I wished that Bucky was here, mostly to help me, but I knew that he had to get back to the city for work. Which sucked.

I started to unpack my clothes, putting in the effort to fold them neatly and place them in my dresser or hang them up in my closet. It didn’t take me that long since I didn’t have a lot of clothes, and when I finished I set up my TV which I placed on my desk. I usually did my homework on my bed anyway, so I wasn’t upset over the loss of space. I groaned in frustration as the different cables got tangled through transportation and became a big messy jumble.

Finally, after many minutes of wrestling with the cables, I started to hook up my TV, which also wasn’t that hard. In fact, it didn’t take too long to set up the rest of my room. Once I finished the “essentials”, I took all my food and dumped it (save a small chip bag) into an empty plastic bin and slid it under my bed. Sighing, I sat on my bed and started eating my snack and looked around my room. My roommate’s side of the room was all clean and set up, though she clearly wasn’t here.

I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t know anyone and the events that were being thrown on campus seemed like lame ways for the school to play friendship match-maker, which I wasn’t interested in. I sighed again and laid down on my bed—more liked flopped—and grabbed my TV remote from my desk and searched through the various movies and TV shows on Netflix.

○○○

I stayed in my room all day, only leaving when I got a call from the food delivery guy telling me my food was here. I rolled my eyes at him when he winked at me and tried to slide me his phone number saying, “We should totally get together at some point and hook up.” He didn’t even have the audacity to _pretend _to take me on a date. I wish I could say the whole experience was worth it, but…the food wasn’t even that good.

My roommate still wasn’t back yet, and for some reason, some part of me was a little annoyed. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t fight it. My phone buzzed, taking me out of my head and my chicken salad. Turning on the screen, my face brightened when I saw the text from Bucky. He must be off work.

**Hey. I just got done. How’s college life?**

_So far, it sucks. Please tell me it gets better?_

**It does. Just takes a little bit to adjust.**

I scoffed at him. “Time to adjust.” I was plenty adjusted to moving around to a new place where you didn’t know anyone and was expected to go on as if your life was normal.

_You know how adjusted I am._

I didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but I couldn’t help the little bit of anger that came through. Foster care will do that to you. Bucky didn’t respond right away, and for a minute, I thought maybe I crossed a line and upset him and my heart descended into my stomach.

**Yeah, I know Claire Bear. But whether you choose to accept it or not, this is different. Just give it some time, you’ll see. Watch, the day will come when you’d rather spend all your time with your friends than with me. I’ll have to beg for some attention like some needy boyfriend. Or a dog.**

_Bold of you to assume I’ll have friends. And for the sake of my sanity, please never ever EVER compare yourself to a boyfriend. Especially when referring to me._

**LOL! YOUR SUCH AN ASS!**

_You’re*_

**SHUT THE FUCK UP! **

_What’s the matter Bicky? Are you getting angry? I think you should see someone about this anger issue you have. Ignoring it isn’t healthy. Take it from me, the poster child for anger issues. _

**Claire, you don’t have anger issues.**

_Shouldn’t I be the one denying it and you’re the one trying to convince me? This doesn’t feel right. _

I did have anger issues. One time in 8th grade I beat up a boy for picking on a girl who was kind of my friend. I was suspended for a week and the girl was so scared of me she didn’t want to be my friend anymore. Yeah, I don’t have the best track record with making friends.

**So did you meet your roommate yet?**

_Not yet. She’s been out all day. Bicky what if she’s one of those weird social butterfly type people? What if she tries to make me do things? I’m not about that social life, Bicky. I might actually implode. _

**Oh Claire, you’ll be fine. Don’t overreact. **

I turned the screen of my phone off and threw it to the other end of my bed. Shifting my position, I moved my feet up, pulling my knees closer to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, holding them in place. I huffed and rested my head against my knees and stared at the door to my room. I wished my roommate would just get here so I didn’t have to spend this time sitting in silence. I grabbed my headphones and plugged them into my phone, turning the volume all the way up to drown out my thoughts, and pulled out a bottle of purple nail polish and began to paint my nails.

About an hour passed before I heard the low punching of the combination lock on the other side of the door. I peered up from the tops of my eyes, pausing a bit from painting my nails, as the door swung open, revealing an average tall girl with brown hair—scratch that, it was more red than brown; maybe a mixture of both—wearing a medium length black skirt with black knee socks and boots. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and all of her fingers were covered in multiple rings. Her light skin contrasted heavily with the black eyeshadow she was wearing.

She walked into the room, but paused in the center, her face contorting in disgust before she walked over to the window and opened it. She didn’t say anything to me and I didn’t say anything to her, but she walked from the window and stood in the middle of the room, staring at me. I could sense her eyes trailing over me, landing on my scar, and I shifted my hair to cover it. But I guess she didn’t take the hint and continued to stare at me. I growled a little under my breath.

“Can I help you with something?”

I felt a little bad; I didn’t mean to sound so harsh to her, but…I’m self-conscious about my scar and don’t like people staring at it or drawing attention to it. Before I could apologize, she laid down on her bed and rolled over to face the opposite wall and didn’t move for the rest of the night.


	3. My Match-maker Running Partner (Claire’s POV)

The next morning I woke up to the blaring sound of an alarm. I groaned loudly and rolled over in my bed, pressing the end of my pillow against my ear to drown out the noise. News flash: it didn’t work. I opened my eyes just a little bit, peeking over at my roommate’s side of the room.

She sat up and stretched, her shirt rising just a little bit exposing her stomach and she sighed. She ran a hand through her hair on her scalp, not trailing them down as it was tied in a messy braid and stood up. I groaned again, though softer this time, and flopped my head down and tried to go back to sleep, but a soft voice pulled me out again.

“I’m…I’m sorry I woke you. I should’ve said something…about me being a morning person.”

She lowered her head and grabbed her shower caddy and a towel and left the room. Feeling sleep leave me, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, running my hands from my eyes and down my face. Sighing, I got up and got dressed, pulling on a running t-shirt, black yoga pants and my sneakers, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and grabbed my phone, headphones, and ID and left my room.

The campus was quiet as students tried to get a few more days of sleeping in before classes started next week, which I wasn’t looking forward to. Plugging in my headphones into my ears and starting my running playlist, I shoved my phone into the pocket of my pants along with my ID, and took off running in a random direction, not really caring where I ended up. That’s what I did when I was bored: I ran. I loved running, but for some reason, I hated doing it for a competition. So, I pretty much hated track and field.

I remembered my breathing exercises and practiced them as I pushed myself to run faster. The beautiful morning scenery of campus flew by me in a colorful blur, not that I was looking. My eyes were focused solely on the path in front of me, so I didn’t have time to process when a tall guy wearing a blue athletic shirt and black running pants with light blonde hair ran in front of me, throwing me off my rhythm, causing me to stumble. I thought I was going to fall, but to my surprise, the same guy that cut me off caught me and saved me from a few bad cuts and scrapes. He steadied me and looked at my face and smirked at me.

“You didn’t see that coming, did you? You should probably watch where you’re going. You don’t want to hurt yourself. Or others,” he said, his smirk growing. I furrowed my brow in frustration, feeling my anger coming to the surface. I stepped closer to him and stood on my tippy-toes and jabbed a finger into his chest.

“_I _should watch where I’m going? _You’re _the one that came out of nowhere! You watch where you’re going.” 

He was quiet for a moment as he looked me up and down, still smirking. Finally his smirk turned into a smile and said, “You know you’re cute when you’re angry.” Which did nothing to help dissipate my anger. “I’m Pietro. What’s your name, beautiful?”

I scoffed and started to walk away, but something about Pietro made me turn back to him. Staring into his light blue eyes, I gave him my best intimidation look—which made him smirk again—and placed my hands on my hips, leaning to one side.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I would. I would like to know very much,” he replied quickly, not missing a beat. He really thought he was being so smooth. He had no idea how much of an asshole he was sounding like right now. I debated strongly on whether or not I should give him my name. I mean…what was the harm in giving it to him? I had a pretty common name and I could guarantee that there were multiple people on this campus alone with the same name as me, so it’s not like he could find me or something. Plus, he didn’t know where I lived, so I’m pretty sure I’m safe. Bicky would probably say otherwise, but who cares? He’s not here. I folded my arms across my chest and smirked back at Pietro who was waiting patiently for an answer.

“Claire.”

“Well Claire, it’s nice to meet you,” he said holding out his hand to me. I stared at it, still smirking, but didn’t return the gesture.

“I wish I could say the same.”

He let out a laugh and pulled his hand back and relied, “Wow you really are a firecracker in the morning aren’t you? So feisty.”

“Well, my roommate woke me up. I guess it’s a little obvious that I’m not a morning person,” I deadpanned with a shrug. Pietro nodded in understanding before he looked at the watch on his wrist. He breathed out a chuckle and looked back up at me and ran a hand through his blonde hair as his cheeks turned a light pink.

“Not to sound too forward, but…could I get you’re number? Maybe we could get together for a run sometime or coffee or…whatever?”

I was taken aback by his sudden change from cocky and smug to nervous and almost…charming? I…didn’t know how to answer him. I mean, he was _very _attractive (it was really just his attitude that was a big downside), but…I wasn’t used to guys being interested in me. It was always more of the other way around. Same with women. I always pursued my people of interest, but I had to admit, I did tend to favor women. I gave Pietro a sympathetic look and pressed a hand to my forehead and cleared my throat.

“Actually, I’m…” How do you tell a complete stranger that you’re not interested in them, not because they were a gigantic asshole, but because there’s no possible way you would be able to work as a pair, without laying out your whole life story and romantic history along with your sexual orientation? “I’m…playing for the other team…?” I mentally smacked myself for coming up with the most cliché phrasing of “We can’t work, I’m gay” ever and cursed myself for sounding so lame, but Pietro didn’t seem to mind. He nodded his head and smiled at me.

“I wasn’t looking for anything romantic…it’s just, you seemed pretty cool and…”

“Oh. Oh okay, well then…sure I guess.” My cheeks flushed a light pink at my misunderstanding as Pietro pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened his contacts before he handed it to me. I entered my name and number into the appropriate boxes and handed it back to him smiling. “There you go.”

“Cool. Thanks.” He turned to leave but stopped mid-step and spun around to face me again, a huge bright smile lighting up his face, as a giant lightbulb floated above his head. “I just had a brilliant idea. Give me your phone.”

I raised my brow, but ultimately listened to him and handed him my phone. He scrolled through the different apps and opened my contacts. I walked around to stand beside him and watched as he created a new contact and proceeded to enter in a name and number that I didn’t know, Wanda Maximoff. I moved my hands to my hips and raised a brow at him, questioning what he was doing.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Changing your life for the better,” he replied as he handed me back my phone. He had moved out of my contacts and created a new message with this Wanda woman and texted her, “Hey”.

“Who is this?” His smile grew as he stood a little straighter.

“My sister. She plays for the other team too,” he replied as he lightly elbowed my side and winked at me before bursting in a fit of laughter. My phone buzzed with a text from Wanda.

**Who is this?**

Glaring at Pietro, I responded to her.

_Sorry, you definitely don’t know me, and I’m really sorry for this. I ran into your brother Pietro and he gave me your number. I’m Claire. Again, I’m really sorry. I promise I’m not a creepy stalker. _

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!

**Lol. That sounds like Pietro.**

_I’m sorry I sound so fucking weird. I’m not usually like this._

**It’s fine. Believe me, I’m no better. **

“Well, have fun and good luck. I gotta go,” Pietro said, taking off in a light jog to my right and running down the street before I could say anything more. I threw my hands up in the air and shouted after him, only getting a laugh in reply as he ran farther away. I shook my head and shoved my phone back in my pocket and started running again.

I ran for a few more minutes, stopping when I reached a small café. I walked in, ordered myself a large coffee and a chocolate muffin and moved to sit at one of the tables outside, basking in the early morning sun. My phone buzzed again with another text from Wanda.

**Honestly you’re fine. Pietro’s always doing this. It’s gotten to the point where I’m not even surprised. So Claire, I’m assuming you live on campus? **

_Yeah. I ran into Pietro while on a run. Literally. He ran into me. _

**Lol. **

_No offense, because he’s your brother and all, but he’s an asshole. Lol._

**LOL! I’ll tell him you said so. **

_Please don’t._

**Alright. Your secret’s safe with me. **

I smiled at her message. Surprisingly, this was going well. Wanda was…really nice and warm, regardless of the fact that we’ve only been texting for about an hour.

**So how’s your morning going? You’re up early. **

_Yeah, I’m not really a morning person, but I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I went for a run. I guess my morning’s going pretty well. Wish I was in my bed asleep, but alas, here we are. _

**Well, I’m glad your morning is going better than mine.**

_What happened? If it’s nothing personal…_

**No, it’s fine. I don’t think my roommate likes me. **

_I’m sure that’s not true. _

**IDK. I’m a morning person, so I accidentally woke her up this morning. And last night she kinda snapped at me. I don’t think she likes me. **

_Well, as my brother Bicky said to me, it’s a big adjustment. Just give her some time; maybe she’ll come around. _

**Bicky? His name is Bicky? I’m sorry I fi I sound a bit rude, but what kind of name is Bicky?**

**if***

_Lol! Sorry, his name’s not Bicky. That’s just a nickname I gave him when we were younger. His real name is James, but everyone calls him Bucky because of his middle name. You were completely justified in asking, lol._

**Ok, lol. **

I chuckled to myself, earning a few a questioning glances from other people who were around me, but I didn’t care. Bicky will always be funny, no matter what.

_So other than your roommate trouble, how’s your morning going so far?_

**I guess okay. I was the first one in the shower, so that’s a plus…I think. **

_Ha! I count it as a plus. Take joy in the little things._

**Pietro says the same thing.**

_I guess even assholes can be wise…_

**Lol.**

I didn’t stay at the café long, and after about another hour (another hour I spent talking to Wanda), I got up from my table, threw out my trash, and started running back in the direction of my dorm. It was after 10:00, and I wanted to shower and go back to bed.

Punching in the code to my room, I entered and groaned out of exhaustion. My roommate, who was sitting in her bed reading a book and drinking a cup of tea, looked up at me, her cheeks turning a light pink color. She quickly glanced back at her book, avoiding my eyes and scratched the back of her neck. I shrugged and grabbed my shower stuff, towel, and change of clothes and left the room and into the bathroom.

○○○

I sighed in content as I walked back into my room after my shower. I felt relaxed and refreshed, but most importantly, I felt clean. I scrubbed all the sweat and grime off me that I accumulated from my run and from moving in all my stuff. I put my stuff away and hung up my towel on the hook on the door to my closet and sat on my bed, pulling my damp hair to one side and tying it in a loose braid.

My roommate was still in her bed reading, except she kept looking over at me, not focusing on her book. Every time her eyes connected with mine, they would dart away back to her book and her pink cheeks would darken. I was a little guilty; I think it was my fault that she was so jumpy around me. I shouldn’t have snapped at her last night, and I should probably let go of the fact that her alarm woke me up. She already apologized, so it should be forgiven right? Maybe I should take my own advice. I sighed and dropped my braid down my back and cleared my throat, startling her a bit. Her light green eyes shot over to me and she blinked rapidly for a few seconds.

“Hey…so…I’m sorry I’ve been an ass. I shouldn’t have snapped at you last night. I mean this when I say it, I wasn’t mad at you, just…self-conscious I guess—”

“I shouldn’t have been staring, so it’s on me too. I’m sorry too; I didn’t mean to make you self-conscious. I’m not used to being with other people…besides my brother, so I can promise you I’m going to do more socially awkward stuff before the year is over,” she replied, looking down at her hands, playing with the number of rings on her fingers, a small smile gracing her blushing face. I smiled at her, feeling a little more at ease about our situation and sat farther on my bed, leaning my back against the wall. I pulled my knee up to my chest and clasped my hands together around my knee, keeping it in place, and laughed. She looked over at me and started to laugh too, her face reddening.

“I can’t believe we literally just moved in and we already had a fight,” I said scoffing.

“I know. Again, I’m sorry I woke you up. I’m not used to being with someone who doesn’t know I’m a morning person.” 

“Honestly, it’s fine. If you didn’t wake me up, I wouldn’t have gotten in my exercise for the day, and I’d probably just be waking up now. You did me a favor.” She smiled at me, exposing her small and subtle dimples. She looked down at her bedspread and closed her book and placed it on her desk.

The room descended into a weird type of silence; it wasn’t uncomfortable per-say, but it was a little awkward. I shifted in my seat and looked back over at her and in an instant I remembered that I literally didn’t know who she was. I didn’t know he name, where she was from, what her interests and dislikes were, what her major was, etc. I mentally smacked myself as I cleared my throat again. She tore her eyes off her covers and looked at me, her eyes a little wide, as if she didn’t expect the noise.

“So, I just realized something.” She lifted her head up a bit and hummed. “We literally know nothing about each other.”

She furrowed her brow and looked down, internally reflecting over every interaction we’ve had in the past few hours (note: there weren’t a lot). When it dawned on her that this was in deed true, her eyes met mine again, growing wider and her mouth forming an “o” shape.

“You’re right,” she said after a minute. “Where do we even start?”

I shrugged and said, “Probably with our names…I’m not good at this part. To be honest, I don’t have any friends outside of my brother.”

“Me too. My brother and I—we’re twins—we were orphaned when we were really young, and it was hard for me to trust other people outside of him. That and I’m not as social as he is.”

My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe it; there was someone else on this campus that knew what it was like to go through what I went through? It didn’t seem real. I had someone in my life that understood me? Understood what I went through? She looked at me with a weird look, her eyes not leaving mine.

“I’m sorry. I understand everything you just said. My—Can I get real with you?” Part of me considered not laying every moment of my life story out to a complete stranger, but it was quickly refuted by another more dominant part of my brain that screamed at me to overshare. She smiled at me and nodded.

“Of course.”

I took a deep breath and sighed, and after a few seconds said, “So, I lost my dad when he was overseas and my mom a few years after that from cancer and spent the rest of my childhood being shuffled around in foster care, until I landed on Bucky’s family who took me in and later adopted me. So, I get what it’s like; not being open to other people. It’s one of the reasons why I have no friends.” I took a breath and looked over at her before quickly looking away, my face heating up. “I’m sorry, that got dark really quick.”

“No, it’s fine. My brother and I lost our parents in an accident when we were ten, though we were lucky; we had family that took us in and raised us, but even so…I was sheltered by my brother, so my social skills aren’t…the best. I never really liked people enough to want to make an effort to get to know them.”

“Any particular reason why you don’t like people?”

“I never got along with others. They always thought I was weird.” She played with her rings again and looked down. Through mediocre detective skills, I was able to deduce that this was a nervous or comforting habit of hers.

“Why?” I asked, my eyebrows crinkling in confusion. She didn’t look weird. True, I don’t really know her, but I have a sixth sense about these things. There’s no way she’s weird.

“Mostly because I was quiet. I would—and still do now that I think about it—go long periods of time without saying a word to anyone. I kept to myself a lot and would stay in my room reading a book or listening to music or sleeping. Whenever I did go out, I would stick close to my brother and follow him around like a shadow. He never minded, but I know it kind of freaked out some of his friends…”

She trailed off at the end and looked back down at her hands, still fidgeting with her rings and the few bracelets that she had on her left wrist. Her words were so…sad and filled with so much pain, and my heart broke for her. I knew exactly what she went through, but I was…less innocent? than she was. I was considered weird because I went through the goth phase too early and lasted much longer than it was considered normal. People also thought I was a psycho, but that’s neither here nor there. It doesn’t matter now; I’m over it and don’t really care about what other people think about me.

I offered her a small empathetic smile and got up from my bed and walked across the room to her side. Standing in front of her, I grabbed her desk chair and pulled it to the edge of her bed and sat down, looking right into her green eyes. Without thinking, I grabbed her hand and squeezed it; she flinched a bit and her breath hitched as she inhaled.

“You don’t need to worry about what other people think about you. They don’t know you or your story, and therefore have no right to judge you. Just be you.” Her face softened and she lightly squeezed my hand back but didn’t respond. I looked down and chuckled, my face heating up.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, starting to laugh too.

“Can I please have your name? It seems a little…disrespectful that I keep referring to you as ‘she’ in my head.”

She laughed louder, pulling her free hand up to cover her mouth, her green eyes sparkling, and her nose twitching as she laughed and said, “I’m Wanda.”

I froze. What were the odds that there were more than one Wanda on this campus? I’m not a math major, but I would say it’s pretty slim. Wanda’s brows furrowed in confusion and I cleared my throat before I answered her.

“Well, this is a little awkward…” Did I just say that out loud?! What the fuck brain?! “What I meant to say was…I’m Claire.”

Wanda’s eyes widened and she pulled her hand out from mine. To be honest, I had forgotten that it was even there. She pulled both her hands into her lap and tore her eyes away from mine.

“You…you don’t happen to be _the _Claire? Like the Claire that was texting me earlier?” she asked, her soft voice barely making it to my ears. Her cheeks flushed bright red as she tucked a piece of auburn hair behind her ear. My face heated up more making me look like a tomato no doubt. Sweat formed on the back of my neck and I moved my up to scratch my head. My eyes darted away from her and looked down at her bedspread.

“Uh…yeah. That was me. I’m really sorry if I weirded you out. I promise Pietro took my phone and put your number in and sent the text.”

Wanda giggled, her nose wiggling just a little bit as her head leaned back. She clutched onto her leg as her body followed the movement of her head. Her cheeks tinted to a light shade of pink and I smiled at her.

“I totally believe you. He’s always trying to make me become more social, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’d give my number out to a stranger if it meant I’d make a friend,” she said as she settled down, bringing her head down to look at her hands. My face started to heat up at her words. I coughed and cleared my throat, avoiding her eyes which I knew were on me now. “What?” She smiled at me, raising a brow.

“That’s not…really the reason he gave me your number…” I started nervously. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable; I didn’t want her to think that I agreed to the romantic setup. I know what it’s like to be set up on dates, it never ended well. Wanda’s brows furrowed in confusion and she scooted to the edge of her bed, resting her arms on the tops of her thighs, and leaned forward.

“Oh?”

“Yeah…” Claire ran a hand against the back of her neck, subtly wiping away the newly formed sweat, “he kinda sorta found out that I’m…not available for him and thought that maybe we could…‘connect’, I guess since he said that you…you know…” Wanda sat up straight and paled a little, and I was filled with a sense of guilt and stupidity. Was she not ready to be outed? Was that something she would’ve wanted me to know? Maybe Pietro told me that in confidence…?

Seeing her expression change, I jumped up and waved me hands and said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s none of my business and it’s not something that I have to know. I promise I’m not judging you, I’m just—”

“Pietro told you?” she asked me in an unsure voice. I nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Pietro _told _you?” she asked again.

I nodded.

“Pietro…told _you_?” she asked once more, getting up from her bed and pacing the floor.

“Yeah, he told me this morning.”

“What exactly did he say?” she asked as she looked at the floor. I thought about it for a minute before I answered her.

“He said that you ‘play for the other team too’,” I explained, holding up my hands to mock quotation marks. Wanda stopped pacing and looked over at me.

“‘Too?’”

Again my face started to heat up and small beads of sweat formed on the back of my neck. I looked away from her and down at the floor and started to chuckle nervously.

“Um…” I didn’t know what to say. Wanda and I just met, and I didn’t feel entirely too comfortable disclosing something as personal as my sexual orientation. Though, to be fair, I did know hers…wouldn’t it be fair for her to know mine? But it’s not like I asked to know what she identified as…Pietro told me without even batting an eye, so did the rules of reciprocation really apply here?

Wanda looked at me, expecting an answer, but when I hesitated, she blushed and tripped over her words. She picked at her fingers and played with her rings all while trying to make comfortable eye contact with me, though she did look away from my eyes a few times.

“I’m sorry, that’s way too personal for me to ask. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I have no right to know—”

“In your defense, I do know about you. It’s only fair that I should tell you…”

“But I don’t want you to think I’m trying to force you to tell me.” Wanda’s voice lowered and wavered. I looked down at her hands and saw them shaking a little.

“Wanda,” she looked up at me and I could clearly see that it wasn’t just her hands that were shaking, but her whole body, “you _can _ask me you know. It’s not like some big secret.”

“I know, but I’d rather you not tell me. Even though it’s not, it feels like you’re telling me out of obligation, and I want you to tell me because you feel like you can trust me and feel comfortable to tell me.”

I nodded at her and the conversation shifted to our class schedules and life outside of here. We talked about our interests and hobbies, what our majors or fields of studies were, our families…pretty much anything that came to our minds. A little after two, Pietro stopped by and was a little shocked to find out that the “feisty runner” was his twin sister’s roommate. He sat with us, joining in our conversations, and every so often (and not so subtly) he would look between me and Wanda whenever we would agree on _anything_, he would stare at me with a goofy smile, narrowed eyes, and wiggling eyebrows. I had _no idea_ if Wanda caught it, but for some reason I prayed she didn’t. All in all, Pietro was a nice guy and was really funny…at times. As the afternoon dragged on and when we realized that we had skipped lunch, Pietro pushed us into his truck and drove us around until we could decide on a place to eat. Thank God!


	4. First (Real) Day (Wanda’s POV)

The weekend flew by faster than I would’ve liked. In about…an hour I would have my first class, and to say that I was nervous was a little bit of an understatement. I was already in terms of supplies since me, Claire, and Pietro took a ride to a nearby Staples and the campus bookstore to pick up supplies and out books for class. Sunday was more of a relax day. Me and Claire talked some more and even hung out around campus learning the lay of land and afterwards met up with Pietro after his run. He hung around a few other guys who were clearly athletes and wouldn’t stop saying the word “bro.” According to Claire, he’s a “douche-bag bro boy,” though I’m not sure what that means; all I know is that he started to annoy her with all the “bro-talk.”

I stood by my desk, placing my notebooks and textbooks that I needed for the day into my bookbag when I heard Claire wake up and roll over, letting out a loud and sad groan that almost resembled a scream.

“Uggghhhh! Why is it so _fucking _early?! Why is it Monday?! Why am I here?!”

I chuckled at her as I continued to pack up my stuff, crossing the room to grab extra stuff that I might need and smacking her lightly with a pillow to make her get up. She muttered a guttural groan as she sat up and rubbed her face aggressively with her hands. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed and grabbing her towel and shower caddy, she left the room, groaning as she walked down the hall as she entered the communal bathroom.

I grabbed my bag and headphones and left the room, exiting the dorm. Walking outside, I pulled out my schedule and looked over my class list and the buildings that they were in. The air was cool, but still warm and the sun peaked through the leaves of the trees, casting bright yellow light on the white sidewalks.

The streets were filled with bustling students who were in a hurry to get their morning coffee before their class. I passed the campus coffee shop, and looking in the window, I saw the long line of tired and thirsty students and was grateful that the taste of coffee didn’t agree with me.

I entered the class room and took a seat in the front though off the side close to the wall. There were already a few other students in the room, and not long after I got there, the professor entered and set up their stuff and engaged with a few students while they waited for class to start.

○○○

“Hey! Wanda!” I turned my head and took out one of my headphones. I smiled when I saw Claire’s familiar red hair running towards me.

“Hi.”

Claire breathed hard as she caught up to me, slouching over to catch her breath. I chuckled at her and grasped her shoulder lightly. She looked up at me and let out a deep breath that was a mix between a laugh and a scoff.

“What are you doing here? Isn’t it too early for you to be outside?” I asked her with a laugh. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

“You know it’s after 1:00 right?”

I laughed and I felt heat rise to my cheeks. She blushed too and let out a nervous cough.

“Yeah it’s just…you’re more of a night owl than an early bird…”

“Actually, I’m more of what the memers call an ‘afternoon pigeon.’” I shook my head at her as I laughed again and draped an arm around her shoulders.

“Where are you headed?” I asked her as we started walking. She returned the action and I felt her arm wrap around my back.

“I don’t know. I’m finished with class so I was probably gonna grab another coffee or maybe lunch and head back to the room. Where are you going?”

“I think I’ll go to the library and try to get some writing done before the workload gets too much,” I said, pulling away a little as we moved to walk in different directions. I felt resistance on Claire’s end as I pulled away, and I could’ve sworn I heard her whimper? a little.

“I can come with you…if you want me to, that is?” Claire said in more of a question, slowing down a bit as to not seem too eager. I smiled and tilted my head down, hiding behind my hair.

We walked the short distance to the library and entering, we sat at a table together. I took out my laptop and a notebook, opening it to a page with many scribbles and messy handwriting. Claire pulled out a book and opened it to her current page but paused reading when she saw my notebook. She stared at the messy pages and furrowed her brows, presumably trying to make sense of the incoherent words.

“What is this?” she asked. I looked down at the notebook and turned it towards her so she could see it a little better.

“It’s just something that I wrote one day; it’s nothing—”

I reached out for the book, becoming self-conscious; no one read my stuff before. Claire cut me off by holding up a finger and holding the book in her hand, close to her face. Her purple? eyes scanned over the words of the poem and her mouth hung open a little as she read.

“‘But…one day that all ended. The kitchen walls painted white were no more. The painted red apples were now nothing but ash. The scent of apple pie now burned the air. The comfort was gone. Our laughter no longer filled the house. All that was left was an eerie silence.’ Woah. You wrote this?”

My cheeks flared with heat and I looked away, hiding behind my long hair again, a beaming smile gracing my face.

“I…love this,” she said in…amazement? “You’re like an _amazing _writer, Wanda. Like seriously, you could probably submit this to be published or something, it’s that good.”

The heat in my face increased and I could only imagine how red my face actually was. I probably looked like horrendous. I looked down and tucked some hair behind my ear and bit my lower lip.

“Yo—You really like it?”

I couldn’t believe it. Someone liked my work; _Claire_ liked my work. Was she…was she serious? Certainly she didn’t mean it. She was just trying to be nice to me? She didn’t have to lie for my sake. She looked at me with wide eyes and a dumbfounded look.

“Dude, I don’t just like it; I _love _it.”

I saw her cheeks flush a bright pink as we locked eyes after she finished reading my poem. She really liked it. My smile grew and spread to my ears, causing my cheeks to ache. I turned on my computer and Claire scooted over in her seat, sitting in the chair next to me rather than across from me. She closed her book and put it down, staring at the screen as it turned on. As I opened the Word document of my current project and looked over the word, trying to get back in the rhythm, Claire read the latest paragraph.

“Is there more?” she asked, looking at me. I smiled and scrolled up to the first page and turned the computer towards her. She smiled as her eyes danced across the screen, her hand scrolling the page down when she finished.

She stared at the screen, hardly blinking as she read the first few pages of the story I was writing. Her eyes widened at certain parts of the story and she laughed at others. When she finished, she turned the computer back towards me and looked back at me with a surprised face. I chuckled at her and looked down at the keyboard with a smile.

“So…I take it you liked it?” I asked her in a nervous voice, afraid of hearing real criticism despite I would love nothing more than to have it given to me. Claire’s surprised look changed back to her dumbfounded look from a few minutes ago.

“Dude, this is the greatest thing I’ve ever read!”

“Quiet!” the librarian scolded in a harsh voice as she shushed us. Claire looked away, her cheeks brightening. I looked away and stared at the screen.

“I’m glad you like it,” I whispered as I glanced at her, catching her eyes and quickly looking away, my face heating up. She smiled and her blush darkened.

“I mean this when I say it, but Wanda, you have some real talent. Have you ever submitted anything before?”

“Uh…no I haven’t. I’ve been meaning to and I know I should, but I’ve never had anyone read my stuff before, so I’m a little scared of rejection.”

“Maybe you should consider it. I don’t mean to pressure you, but I think you have a good chance of getting published or something. Is there anyone that you can talk to about this just to get more information?” she asked me.

Through some research in the school directory we discovered that there was a professor on campus that specialized in creative writing. We found her office number and hours, sent her a quick email asking if I could meet with her to talk, and waited for her to respond. We waited for a while for a response, and in the meantime, I tried to take my mind off it by getting some writing done and Claire went back to her book. I sighed and threw my head in my hands, grasping some of my hair. Claire looked up at me, put her book down and moved her chair closer to me, leaning in close.

“Is everything okay?” she asked. I picked my head up and looked into her purple colored eyes and sighed again.

“Yeah,” I sighed. I couldn’t tear my eyes off hers; they were mesmerizing and seemed to glisten in the fluorescent lights of the library. I watched as her cheeks turned a darker red and her eyes shift down to the table, away from my gaze. “How did you get your eyes that color?” Claire played with her hair, tucking a few strands of curls behind her ear. Her smile turned into a cheeky grin and her purple eyes twinkled at the attention.

“It’s just contacts.” She reached up and took her contacts out revealing bright crystal blue eyes. The light struck her sky blue eyes and the blueness shimmered like a tropical sea in the light of afternoon sun. I saw the bright blue sky on a summer day or deep caverns full glistening sapphires. She bit her bottom lip as she tried to hide her smile and cleared her throat, blushing more. “Wanda? You okay? I think you spaced out a bit.”

I snapped out of my trance and looked away from her gaze, looking back at my computer and chuckling nervously said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”

“It’s fine,” she muttered through her bit lip. Silence feel between us as we both went back to our original activities.

A little while later, my phone buzzed with an alert for an incoming email. I sighed and checked my phone, 100% believing that it was going to be for something stupid like junk mail but gasped a little when I read it.

“What is it?” Claire asked, looking up from her book once more. I shoved my phone in her face to let her read the email.

“She got back to me.”

“Wow. So when are you meeting with her?”

I glanced back down at my phone, reading the email again.

“She said 10:30 works for her and I don’t have class at that time, so I guess 10:30.”

“Well, good luck dude. I’m sure she’ll love your shit. You know I do,” Claire said with an encouraging voice as she turned back to her book, the deep red of her blush spreading down her neck and to her ears. When she wasn’t looking, I smiled at her and turned to my computer, my own certain blush taking a similar form.

○○○

I sat in the waiting room outside her office, bouncing my foot anxiously as I waited for her to finish up with her current meeting. Every ticking second of the clock only fueled my anxiety. I wasn’t good with meeting new people, and even the very idea of doing so sent my heart into a downward spiral of overreacting, awkwardness, and nervousness. Suddenly, the sound of a door opening and the growing sound of voices perked my from my anxious thoughts and I turned my head to the left to see a young average height woman with dark auburn hair leading a male student out of her office, the both of them laughing before he said good-bye and went on his way.

The woman, still smiling, looked at me and said, “Are you waiting to see someone?”

“Uh yes, I’m here to see you actually…”

Her smile grew a little brighter and became more genuine as her shoulders slumped a little as she seemed to relax in her stance.

“You must be Wanda. Come on it, I don’t bite,” she said, stretching her arm out, directing me into her large office. I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as she closed the door and stepped around me to sit on a black leather couch against the wall across from the door. “Have a seat, Wanda. Relax and stay a while.”

I sat on the couch next to her and patted my knees, already feeling the awkwardness settle in, even though there was no reason to feel like this. She sent me a small smile which eased my nerves and folded her hands together and placed them in her lap as she scooted to the end of the couch.

“So, Wanda, what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, Professor Barnes, I—”

“Oh, please call me Jemma. I never really liked the title of ‘professor.’ It’s too…much I think,” Jemma said with a bright smile and a wave of her hand.

“Okay, Jemma. I just um…” I opened my bag and pulled out my notebook and laptop, handing her the book while I opened the document of my story. “I was just trying to get some information on publishing? Maybe some feedback from someone more…professional?”

Jemma opened to the first page and read the lines of the different poems that were written, smiling after each one. She read quickly, flipping the pages every couple of seconds, and when she came to the last thing written, she looked back up at me with a smile. She even wiped away a small tear that slowly escaped her brown eyes.

“You wrote these? Like they’re all original?” she asked me.

“Yeah…they’re all mine from different points in my life.”

“Wanda these are amazing and raw. The language is spectacular and invokes such powerful emotions. There’s a confidence here that is hard to see in real life and it’s clear to see that you use writing as a way to communicate emotion.”

Jemma handed me back the notebook. I clutched it close to me, holding it close to my heart. I didn’t make it a habit to have anyone read my work, especially my poetry. Not even Pietro read it—in fact, I’m not even sure he knew I wrote poetry. A lot of my poems were written after my parents died so they always seemed too edgy and depressing to share with others. No one wanted to read about a sad girl’s feelings.

“Have you ever gotten feedback from anyone before?” she asked. I rubbed my arm and shifted in my seat.

“No. Well, other than my roommate, no. I didn’t really like the idea of someone reading them. They’re really personal, so the thought of an outside person reading them made me uncomfortable and a little embarrassed.” Jemma gave me a sympathetic smile.

“I understand how that is. Believe me, when I was your age, I too was afraid to put myself out there,” she explained, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“What made you do it?”

“Well—”

“Hey Jemma Bean, sorry I’m late. Traffic was horrible and Delmar’s was _cray-ze_! I’ve—oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were in a meeting,” an unknown woman with short black hair and blue eyes said as she opened the door to Jemma’s office and walked in but paused when she saw me sitting on the black leather couch. Jemma chuckled, a red tint spreading on her cheeks, and stood up, walking over to the woman, kissing her cheek and her lips before taking a white plastic bag from her hands.

“It’s fine, babe. Come in,” Jemma said, pulling the woman inside the office. She placed the bag on her desk and grabbed a chair from the other side of the room and placed it across from the couch in front of me.

“Jem, I can come back. I don’t want to interrupt,” the woman said as she looked over at me. I shifted in my seat once more and hugged the notebook tighter to me. Personally, I didn’t want to talk about my writing in front of a stranger. Which…in retrospect, I was already doing that by talking to Jemma. How about, I didn’t want to talk about my writing in front of a _stranger_. The woman took a seat in the chair in front of me and held out her hand.

“Hey, how are you? I’m Lily.”

“Wanda,” I replied, grasping her hand and giving it a shake. She smiled at me and sat back in her seat.

“Wanda if you have any more pieces you want me to read, just email them to me, and if you want, we can get together once a week to talk and go over some things? If you want,” Jemma said as she moved to the bag, taking out two sandwiches, two bags of chips, and two bottles of iced tea, placing them on the desk.

“Yeah sure, I would like that,” I said as I put my stuff back into my bag before standing up and leaving her office and heading back to my room.


	5. New Developments (Claire’s POV)

The past few months of school have been grinding along. The workload piled up and both Wanda and I were _buried _under work, and yet, amazingly she found the time to work on her writing. She was…amazingly resilient. In the few months that I’ve known her, Wanda had opened up like a flower in bloom and showed me a more confident version of herself. She was more open with her writing and even found a mentor to help her with her writing.

As the months passed, Wanda and I became closer. We weren’t just roommates anymore, but friends, and I was glad to finally have someone like her outside of Bucky. But lately, whenever Wanda and I would hang out or talk, I felt…I don’t even know; I couldn’t describe it. I just felt…weird. She had this way with words that she always made me laugh, and her writing…oh my God. There were things that I felt when I read her works that I’ve never felt before. It was like she got me, understood everything that I felt and was able to put it on the page in a way that I never could.

She currently sat at her desk; computer open to different tabs of documents and she scrolled through each one, her eyes scanning across the lines of words. She let out a sigh and flipped to another different tab and looked it over, sighing again.

“Everything okay, Little Red?” I asked her, looking up from and pausing the episode of _Family Guy _that played on my computer. She looked over at me, blushing a little. I felt my face heat up at hearing the nickname I gave her. I always used it in my head, but never had the guts to say it out loud, and now it slipped out because of my carelessness. I mentally slapped myself. What the hell was I thinking? She probably thought I was a weirdo now who gave her weird nicknames.

“Yeah, it’s just an applica—wait, what did you just say?” Wanda asked with a smile on her face and a darker blush on her cheeks. My face grew hotter and I felt nervous.

“Um…uh…God, I don’t—um…”

“‘Little Red?’ Is that my nickname now?” She sent a smirk my way and raised her eyebrow in a playful manner.

“I mean, if you don’t like it, I can probably come up with something better—”

“No! I—I love it,” she said, cutting me off and hiding behind her hair, her deep scarlet blush peeking out from the strands of dark red hair. I grinned at her and looked down at my computer briefly. Then, she grabbed hers off her desk and carried it over as she moved to sit beside me on my bed. “Which one do you think I should submit?” she asked as she turned the computer towards me, letting me read through her different short stories.

They were all fantastic, and it was hard to choose one. Why did she have to make me choose _one_? I felt her green eyes watch me as I read her work. I couldn’t choose one; I loved all of them. Each one was different but I loved the same things about them. I loved how she describes things and how they each create a beautiful mental picture. I loved her story-telling and her world building. I loved her character development. I loved the way she always watched me whenever I read her stories. I loved the way she hid her face and her blush in her hair when she was nervous or embarrassed. I loved the sound of her laugh. I loved…God what was I thinking? I couldn’t think like this; Wanda’s my friend, and she’s the only one I’ve got. I can’t ruin the one friendship I have because of whatever fleeting feeling of infatuation I have for her.

“So…what do you think? Which one should I pick?” she asked, playing with her rings. I handed her computer back to her and looked into her green eyes.

“I um…liked the mystery one. It’s my favorite.”

“That’s my favorite one too,” she said as she dropped her hand from her lap, lightly grazing my crossed thigh, a blush creeping up on her face, matching the heat that creeped up on mine. She finished the submission process, closed her computer, leaned back on my bed, resting her head against the wall. “Thanks Claire. For helping me. You’re a good friend.”

An aching pain spread through my chest and I frowned, but quickly got rid of it before she could see it and smiled.

“Thanks. You’re a good friend too,” I replied looking away. Did I…did I just see her look…sad? No, no it couldn’t be that. I was just seeing wrong. Just a trick of the light or something.

○○○

Thank _God _that class is over! I’ve literally never been more bored in my _whole life_. Honestly, I hated math. It didn’t help that I was really good at it, which only made the class seem even more tedious. Everything about this class is boring: the material, the students, the time, God. Even the professor was boring. I swear this guy has a multiple personality disorder in addition with anger issues. I packed up my stuff and slung my bag over my shoulders and left the room.

“Hey, wait!” a voice called out to me in the stairwell. I turned to see the very slim body of Natasha Romanoff running up behind me. Her short red hair bounced and glistened in the few rays of sunlight that streamed through the windows. She was wearing a red crop top and black skin-tight leggings. A smile was spread across her ruby red lips. She slowed to a stop in front of me, her black messenger bag hanging down against her hips, a large red hourglass like shape was painted on the flap.

“Oh hey Nat. What’s up?” I asked, hitching my bag up on my shoulder more. Natasha’s hand rested against the strap of her bag and rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.

“Can you believe that class? I thought it would never end.”

I scoffed. “Yeah. You know how hard it was for me to keep my eyes open? Dr. Banner really has it out for us, doesn’t he?”

“I think he’s just passionate. He’s a good guy, though I will admit, he may not be the best teacher.” Nat tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and waved me off. Her smile grew when Steve jogged up the stairs and stopped when he reached us.

“Privet detka (Hey baby),” he said, placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Privet detka.” Natasha wrapped her arms around Steve’s neck and pulled him close as she moved his lips to hers. “Ya skuchal po tebe (I missed you).”

“I missed you too.” He kissed her again, and smirked when he pulled away. “Aren’t you proud of me? I’ve been practicing.”

Natasha chuckled and pinched his clean-shaven cheek and he closed his eyes at the contact.

“Of course I’m proud, moya lyubov' (my love),” she said. He pulled away kissed her once more on the cheek before he started to leave. “Lyublyu tebya (Love you).”

“Lyublyu tebya tozhe (Love you, too),” he called out to her as he went on his way to class. Natasha shook her head and giggled at his leaving form.

“He’s such a dork. But I love him.” Nat smiled at Steve’s shrinking body dreamily and sighed heavily. I shook my head at her and pulled her along, leaving the building.

“So you really got him learning Russian?”

“No!” she exclaimed, giggling and patting my shoulder. “It was his idea. I’m just helping him when he needs it.”

We walked down the leaf-covered street, basking in the autumn sunlight as we passed, and headed over to the library. We both had another class, but it wasn’t for a while and neither of us felt like going back to our rooms. Placing our stuff down at a table near the back and away from other students, we sat down and sighed. Natasha took out her computer and began working on a paper while I looked over my planner, looking over my up-coming assignments.

“God, why do professors take it upon themselves to make my life a living hell?” I sighed, thrusting my head down on the wooden table on top of my planner. Natasha looked up at me and laughed.

“You have a lot of work?”

“Yeah…I have two papers due by the end of the week and an exam on Friday,” I groaned.

“I know what that feels like.”

I groaned again and sat up, looking back over at my planner, mentally trying to organize my work schedule. If I start my English paper now, I could probably finish it tomorrow, which then I could start my History paper, and in between those, I can study for my math test on Friday. Ugghh…! I think I’m actually dying.

The doors in the front of the library opened, and the familiar red hair of Wanda rounded the corner and walked over to the reception desk. I didn’t mean or try to stare at her as she walked behind the desk, sitting at the tall chair, but I couldn’t turn away from her. Out of the corner of my eye, Natasha smirked at me and cleared her throat.

“Close your mouth, sweetie, you’re starting to drool.”

I snapped my head over to her and glared. She reached her hand up to her face and pointed to her chin. I wiped at my face and glared more as Nat’s smirk grew.

“You know, most people consider staring to be rude. It also makes people uncomfortable,” Nat said in a low suggestive voice.

“I wasn’t staring,” I fired back, “I was just…lost in thought.”

Natasha hitched her eyebrow up, still smirking, and let out a laughing huff.

“Yeah. Okay, sure, babe. Whatever you say…”

“I mean it, Nat. I wasn’t staring.”

“And I believe you.”

We were silent as we stared at each other, her ruby red smirk not going away. I huffed and looked down at my planner, reaching for my bag to pull out my English book and computer.

“She _is_ cute, you know,” she said under her breath.

○○○

We sat in the library for a while, working tirelessly on our endless list of assignments, and every so often, I would sneak a glance over in Wanda’s direction. She continued to sit at the reference desk, reading a book and whenever a student came up with a question, she would close the book, push it aside, and smile brightly at them while helping them to the best of her ability.

I could feel Natasha’s gray/green eyes burn into me whenever I looked over at the reference desk, silently judging me, though she never said anything. Wanda never caught me staring at her, and honestly, _thank God_! I already had Natasha condemning me, I didn’t need Wanda joining in. After a few hours, Wanda gathered her stuff and left the desk and made her way over to our table. She stood in front of me and laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, catching my attention.

“Hey Claire, so I was about to head back to the room and order a pizza and was wondering if you wanted to some?” she asked in a gentle voice. A wave of heat spread over me and I felt the small beads of sweat form on my hairline and the back of my neck. Never did I imagine that I would like the sound of my name on her lips. The way her slight Eastern European accent rolled the “r” in my name just…did something to me. I…loved it. Wanda’s cheeks flared up in a scarlet hue and she looked down and smiled, biting her lower lip.

I shook my head, bringing me back to reality and grinned at her. “Yeah. I would love some. Just let me know how much it is, and I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, waving me off, her blush still clearly evident. “It’s my treat.”

She smiled at me once more, waved to Natasha, and turned to leave. She took a few steps away from us before she looked back at me again.

“You want the usual?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” She nodded and left.

I stayed in the library working for about another hour before I got the text from Wanda saying that the pizza had arrived. I gathered my stuff and said good-bye to Natasha before leaving the library and walking back to my dorm.

Opening the door, I immediately spotted Wanda sitting cross-legged on her bed, an open medium sized box of pizza sat in front of her with a small bottle of soda perched against her left knee. A similar sized box sat closed on my bed with a small Pepsi bottle sitting on it. A rerun episode of _Family Guy_ played on my TV and I paused, watching it, trying to figure out what episode it was.

“I hope you don’t mind—”

“Oh no, you’re fine. I was just checking to see what episode it was.”

Wanda smiled and picked up the remote, pressing the pause button to bring up the name of the episode and a brief synopsis. I laughed and walked further into the room, dropping my bookbag onto my desk chair and taking off my shoes.

“That’s a good one,” I said as I quickly got dressed into my pajamas and sat on my bed, opening up my pizza box. The greasy smell of pizza wafted into my nose and my stomach growled in response. It was then that I just realized that I hadn’t really eaten anything all day. I picked up a slice and took a bite, the melted cheese stretching apart as I pulled the piece away with my teeth.

I groaned at the taste as my eyes rolled to the back of my head. “Jesus this is good.” Wanda chuckled and dropped her half-eaten piece into her box and wiped her hands on a paper towel.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Thanks by the way. You didn’t have to get me a _whole _pizza.” She waved me off again and grabbed her piece again, taking another bite. We ate in a comfortable silence, neither one of us making a huge effort to talk. We just sat, ate, and watched the dumb cartoon that played.

“Since when do you watch this?” I asked her after a while. She looked over at me, licking her lips and swallowing before she answered.

“I haven’t been watching long, but I saw you watching it, and it looked…mildly interesting.”

I nodded my head and a took a sip of my soda, turning my eyes away from her pale unblemished face. My thoughts raged in my mind and my heart thumped loudly in my chest as Wanda’s melodious laugh echoed in my ears, ringing in the deep crevices of my brain. Why the fuck was I acting like this? What was going on? What…changed? We were friends and we were fine, so…what happened? Did she feel this too? I don’t even know what this _was_. It was like a…shift in the air or something? Things still seemed normal, but also different at the same time; she was friendly with me and we got closer each day, but something in me stirred and I saw her in a different light.

My heart fluttered whenever I heard her voice and my palms sweat when I saw her smile. Whenever I felt her touch me I went weak in the knees. The way her green eyes sparkled in the sunlight brightened up my day.

I could see her eyes move over at me from her side of the room, glancing back and forth between me, the TV, and her pizza. Her eyes would linger on me for only a second, and before I could meet her eyes and copy her movement, she would turn away, paying attention to the show on the TV. It was actually a little frustrating; why couldn’t she just—I don’t know—make a move? The air was becoming a little awkward now. I wanted to break the slight tension, only I didn’t know how without making it worse by accidentally admitting my feelings (whatever they may be).

About two pizzas and an hour later, Wanda and I still shared fleeting glances at each other from across the room. Once, when our eyes connected accidentally, a light pink tint flushed in her cheeks and her eyes twinkled as she sent me a dorky smile. It was literally the cutest thing ever. God what is happening to me?

“Hey Claire?” Wanda’s sweet and gentle voice said from across the room. I tossed my empty pizza box on top of my desk and turned to look at her. She sat in her bed, legs crossed under her, and her body turned to face me directly. She nibbled on her bottom lip and played with her rings while she had her head tilted downward as she looked between her lap and me. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah sure.”

“It’s kind of personal…”

“Wanda, you can ask me anything.”

Wanda sighed and took a pause, twisting a simple silver band on her index finger around and around, even taking it off and putting it back on again a few times. She took in a deep breath and released it, trembling on the way out. Then, she looked over at me again.

“Okay. Well, call me crazy but, is it just me or did something…I don’t know…change between us?”

I froze.

“Wh—What do you mean?” I bit the inside of my cheek. Was I not being as subtle as I thought? Did she notice me acting like a _fucking _weirdo? Could she somehow read my mind and see all the things that I thought about her when I saw her? I felt cold as her blush reddened, her eyes casting down to her lap, her fingers moving to play with a loose string from her sock.

“Well um…I don’t know, to be honest. Something just feels different? Like a shift of some kind?”

“Wanda, I don’t really know what you’re getting at,” I said, looking away from her and gazing back at the TV. Wanda was silent for a moment before I heard the shuffling sound of her getting off her bed. She crossed the room and took a seat on my bed next to me, crossing her legs like before. Her piercing green eyes locked with my blue ones and I was screaming on the inside. Her right hand was gently brushing against my knee and I wasn’t sure if this was a purposeful thing or just where she decided to place her hand, but it killed me that she had no idea what she was doing to me.

“Claireareyougay?”

My face scrunched up in confusion. What did she just say? Did…did she have a stroke or something?

“What?”

She sighed. “Claire…areyougay?”

There it was again. What is happening here?

“Wanda, what the fuck are you saying?”

“CLAIRE ARE YOU GAY?!”

I froze again and my eyes widened. It was a mix of the shock of the question and the fear at the force in which she asked it. I shook my head after a moment and waved my hand in front of her face.

“Okay. There’s a lot to unpack here and we don’t have time to unpack it all. First of all, we’re right here; you don’t have to yell—”

“But you weren’t answering me…”

“I couldn’t hear you. You were mumbling the whole time.” Wanda pouted and crossed her arms. “Second of all, are you seriously asking me this? It’s been literal months.”

“You never said anything…”

“You never gave me the chance. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t let me.” I heard my voice raise slightly, and by the time I realized it, it was too late to stop it. Wanda looked down at the floor, frowning just the tiniest bit. My face and voice softened as I hesitantly brushed my hand against hers. “I’m sorry. I just…Yes. I’m gay. I’m an 18-year-old bisexual woman who has an almost unhealthy obsession with pizza, wolves, and—” I stopped myself. I almost told her I was obsessed with _her_. God, I’m such a creep. “Comedy. Those are the things I’m obsessed with. Pizza, wolves, and _comedy_.” Nailed it!

Wanda giggled and flinched her hand, fully brushing it against mine, almost as if she was trying to hold it. I wished she would.

“Why…why do you ask?”

Wanda played with her rings again, once more nibbling on her bottom lip.

“Because…um…well you know about me, so…I don’t—” she cut herself off. Her hands flailed as she tried to gesture the words that she wasn’t saying and her face contorted more and more into uncertainty and frustration.

“I don’t get what this,” I flailed my hands, mocking her, “is. What are you trying to say?”

“Claire? How do you know when…you like someone?”

My mouth pressed in a thin line and I nodded my head. On the inside, I was…a little relieved, I guess. Partially because there was a _hint_, a _chance_ that she felt something for me. But on the outside, on the outside I didn’t know how to respond. She stared at me, waiting for an answer and I only looked down at her ringed fingers folded in her lap.

“I—I don’t know if I know how to answer that,” I told her honestly.

“Well…Claire…I think I like you,” she said in a low voice, her face erupting in a deep scarlet blush, engulfing her entire face.

I couldn’t breathe. What did she just say? _What _did she just say? What did she _just _say? What did she just _say_? What. Did. She. Just. Say???

“Wait, what did you just say?” I asked, probably looking like a fool. And sounding like one too, Jesus Christ!

“I like you, Claire. I have for a while I think, I’ve just been too scared to say anything in case you didn’t feel the same way or if you weren’t…you know.”

I couldn’t help the dorky grin that spread across my face at hearing her words. She…liked me? _Genuinely_ liked me? Like, _liked _me liked me. I can’t believe it. This has to be a trick or something. A dream perhaps? There’s no way that this is real.

Wanda’s green eyes continued to look at me, searching my face for any indication of my own thoughts and feelings. My heart pounded against my ribcage, screaming to be let out. My palms started to sweat and my whole body felt hot and sweaty. Wanda’s chest rose and fell quicker than what seemed to be normal and her hands started to shake. I could hear her breathing quicken and tremble with each breath and concern flooded through me.

“Wanda, are you okay?”

She didn’t answer me and got off the bed and started pacing the room. Her hands were fully shaking and her breathes were more shallow and shorter, coming out like a wheeze. In the light, I saw the tears streaming down her face that only increased with her erratic breathing. I jumped off the bed and moved over to her, grasping her by the shoulder to steady her in case she eventually passed out.

“Hey, are you okay? Tell me what’s wrong?”

She continued to breathe heavily, fanning her hand in front of her face to stop the tears, but it only made it worse. Her body doubled over from the lack of adequate air, and I grabbed her arms and carefully lowered her to the floor, laying her down and resting her head in my lap. I didn’t know what was happening, and it had me worried. Her hands gripped onto the sleeve of my shirt tightly, her knuckles turning white. My free hand ran through her auburn hair, carefully detangling the knots that had formed.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to steady her breathing and the tears stopped. A few minutes after, she let go of my sleeve. I continued to run my fingers through her hair, selfishly gaining pleasure from it, and also took my recently freed hand and rubbed her back. Her breathing had gone back to normal, only she would shudder after a few odd breaths, and she had stopped shaking.

“It’s gonna be okay, Wanda. It’s okay,” I muttered to her as I continued to rub her back and play with her hair. It was softer than I imagined. _She _was softer than I imagine—not that I’m focused on that.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, her voice low and drowsy. I looked down and saw her eyelids flutter as she fought to stay awake. I relaxed my tense face and smiled sweetly at her. She was just…so cute.

“It’s no problem, Little Red.”

My smile brightened when I saw a quick smile flash on her face. We sat like this for a few more minutes, me just enjoying the feeling of having Wanda lay in my lap and her still recovering from her…panic attack?

Not too long after—though too short for me—Wanda sat up, taking her head out of my lap. I suddenly felt cold at the lack of contact, though I tried to not let my disappointment show. She sent me a tired smile and placed her hand on my knee.

“Are you okay?” I asked her gently, afraid to set her off again. She just nodded and shook her head and leaned back against her bed.

I shuffled closer to her and looked down at my fingers, playing with them as my nerves set in. I so desperately wanted to tell Wanda how I felt and that I liked her too (probably longer than she liked me), but…I was too scared. I know how she felt, at this point that much was clear, it was just, what if things between us didn’t work out? I never felt this strongly about another person as I did with her, and honestly, these feelings scared me. Wanda was sweet, kind, gentle, innocent, and I didn’t want to wreak the sweet friendship we had; not to mention that she was my only friend.

I took a deep breath, mentally prepped myself for this strange endeavor, cleared my throat and said, “Wanda?”

She opened her eyes and looked over at me. “Hmm?”

I bit my lower lip and felt my nerves start to get the best of me. I wanted to do it, but I couldn’t. Now wasn’t the time. It didn’t feel right; _I _didn’t feel right. Wanda raised a brow at me, silently waiting for me to continue, though she sensed my hesitation and caressed my kneecap with her thumb. Oddly enough, the gesture was soothing, though I still couldn’t get the necessary words out. I didn’t want to turn away now and go back into the closet of my feelings, but…how could I just come out say how I felt? How could she do it?

I sighed and placed my hand on top of hers, catching her off guard a little, and did the only thing that I could think of. Quickly before I lost whatever burst of confidence I had, I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. Wanda’s eyes widened and for a moment she just sat frozen as our lips connected, erupting in a debilitating series of explosions and tingles and reverberated throughout my body. Wow! No kiss ever felt like that.

It only lasted a few seconds and when I pulled away, Wanda’s face was as red as my hair and her eyes were still wide with surprise. Slowly she reached a hand up and touched her lips and stared at me. I looked away, feeling…ashamed. I moved too quickly. I went too fast. There was no way that she was ready for th—

Before I knew it, Wanda’s lips were back on mine, kissing me with such a ferocity and hunger that I never expected from her. Her slender arms snaked around the back of my neck and she used the leverage to pull herself into my lap, wrapping her legs around my waist, straddling me. My hands instinctively moved to the backs of her thighs, carefully gripping the soft skin. Without thinking about it, my thumbs softly caressed her, enjoying the pleasant feel of her velvet like softness, which elicited a soft moan from her as she deepened the kiss. I smiled against her lips and pressed my thumbs deeper into the skin of her thighs as I felt her hands leave my neck and tangle themselves in my long curly locks, tugging slightly.

Eventually, we had to stop and break for air, and to my displeasure, Wanda broke the kiss and pulled away from me slightly, keeping her arms in my hair and her legs around my waist. Her cheeks were still red and her lips were a little swollen and she teasingly chewed on her bottom lip as she stared into my eyes. She let out a breathless chuckle and dipped her head down, breaking our eye contact and causing her hair to fall in front of her face like a curtain. I laughed a little and took a hand off her thigh and moved it up to carefully drape the fallen strands behind her ear.

She looked back up at me, an innocent smile plastered on her slightly swollen lips, her eyes sparkling with something new. My heart melted at the sight of this woman—this woman who I would die for—sitting in front of me.

“Did you do that for me or…”

I laughed and shook my head at her.

“Jesus Wanda Maximoff. You certainly are quite the oblivious person.”

She raised a challenging brow at me while I laughed again and leaned in once more, planting a quick peck against her burning cheek.

“I like you, too.”


	6. Explaining (Wanda’s POV)

My heart fluttered and skipped a beat as me and Claire continued to sit on the floor watching more episodes of _Family Guy_. The first few minutes after our kiss were a little awkward, but as if she was sensing my nerves, Claire’s smooth hand landed on top of mine, squeezing just the tiniest bit as she intertwined her fingers with mine.

The TV continued to play, soon drowning out and becoming background noise to Claire’s tranquil and steady breathing. I felt the thin musty layer of sweat seep onto my skin from Claire’s palm, but I didn’t care. I enjoyed the touch of her hand against me, softly caressing my skin with her thumb. A goofy smile creeped up on my face as Claire stammered out an apology for her sweaty hands. I only leaned down slightly, pulling our hands up to meet me halfway, and placed a small kiss against her knuckles and tightened my grip on her hand so she wouldn’t pull away.

Claire rested her head against my shoulder and sighed in content, still brushing her thumb across the top of my hand. She closed her eyes and hummed quietly to herself, though the sound drifted into my ear. I didn’t recognize the song, and I don’t think Claire knew what she was singing, but the gentle tune caused my smile to grow and I leaned my head down to rest on top of hers. I inhaled deeply, taking in the intoxicating scent of her hair and sighed. We stayed like that for…I don’t even know how long, but at some point the two of us fell asleep, still sitting on the floor with Claire’s head on my shoulder and my head on hers.

Claire’s head shot up, knocking against mine. We both hissed in pain, and when she realized what happened, her hands flew up to my face and cradled my cheeks, pulling my face close to hers. Her purple-contact eyes stared into mine, filled with concern and worry.

“OhmyGodImsosorryareyouokay?”

I chuckled and pried her hands off my cheeks, holding them and rubbing my thumbs across the surfaces like she did for me, and smiled at her.

“Claire, calm down. I’m fine.” She smiled, her upper row of teeth peeking out from the gap in her lips. She blushed at our close proximity, but didn’t pull away from me, which I was grateful for.

We didn’t even establish what we were—whether we were dating or what—but at that moment, I didn’t really care. I just wanted to spend time with her, hold her, enjoy her without the seriousness of labels. Not that I didn’t want to be serious with her, I just…for some reason, my crush on Claire was different than the rest of the crushes I’ve had. I couldn’t explain it; when she touched me, her fingertips left a blazing trail of tingling sensations under my skin. When she kissed me I felt warm and light-headed. Her smile sent waves of shivers through my body and her eyes—her eyes! Oh, her eyes were the crown jewel of her beauty. Not the purple contacts that she wore in her eyes—don’t get me wrong, the purple is very pretty and looks very good on her—but the gorgeous blue that resided underneath. On the rare occasions where I saw Claire without her contacts, I was frozen in place. Her deep blue eyes sparkled and shimmered in any type of lighting, creating deep cavernous tropical pools that I fell deeply into, drowning.

Claire snapped her fingers in the small space in front of my face, snapping me from my inner monologue of ogling Claire’s eyes. The red tint of her blush didn’t fade, but darkened as I continued to stare at her, my own face heating up.

“Dude, where did you go?” she asked with a bit of humor and a small knowing smirk.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re like a million miles away.” 

“That’s not true. I’m right here.” Claire rolled her eyes and released a breathless chuckle before grabbing my hand again and swinging it lightly in the open space between us, looking down at our fingers.

It was my turn to lean against Claire as we sat on the floor, my head resting comfortably in her lap as her fingers still played with my hand, twisting the rings around on my fingers. I smiled at the gesture, but it disappeared soon after as a yawn escaped my lips.

“What time is it?” I asked as I brought up my free hand and rubbed my tired eyes. Claire reached over and pulled her phone down from off her bed and checked the time.

“It’s a little after 12. You getting tired?”

“Yeah. I want to go to bed, but…I’m so comfortable,” I said dramatically as I nuzzled my head against her lap. Claire laughed and ran her fingers through my hair, curling her fingers around the strands at the end.

“Go to bed, Little Red. Tomorrow we can talk more and figure shit out.” Claire leaned down, her hair draping onto my face, tickling my cheeks and my nose causing me to laugh. She giggled too kissed my forehead. “Go to sleep. Go on; get up.” She stirred underneath me, forcing me off of her and giggle more. I sighed and sat up, picking myself off the floor and crawled into my bed, pulling to covers over me. Claire too got up and walked over to the door, flipping the light switch and turning out the light. She walked back over to her bed and laid down, looking over at me.

“Goodnight, Claire.”

“Goodnight, Wanda.”

○○○

Why won’t today just end?! All I wanted to do was go back to my room and fall into Claire’s warm arms and feel her lips brush against my skin as we talked the rest of the night, but…at this point, the universe wanted me to sit through two boring morning classes and five hours of work in the library. If I was honest, I was grateful for the hours that I was in the library because in my downtime, I finished my homework and was able to get some reading done.

My day was brightened when I saw the familiar shade of red hair belonging to Claire walk through the doors of the library, heading right for the reference desk, smiling brightly. She leaned her right arm against the counter and looked right at me, drumming her fingers against it.

“Excuse me, miss, but could you point me in the direction of the romances?” Claire asked with a smug grin. I laughed and rolled my eyes at her and typed in the information into the campus directory that was pulled up in front of me on my computer and grinned back at her.

“Romances are found on the third floor,” I told her, pressing my elbows against the counter and leaning up and over it towards Claire, my grin turning into a smirk. “Do you need any more help?”

“Well, now that you mention it,” Claire shot me a similar smirk and leaned further over the counter, coming closer to me, “do you have any…I don’t know…recommendations? Romance isn’t exactly my cup of tea…”

“I know it’s cheesy, but personally, I enjoy anything by Nicholas Sparks.”

Claire pulled away a little with raised eyebrows and said, “Really? Huh…I didn’t expect that…” she was silent for a few seconds before she shook her head and leaned back in. “Why don’t you take me up there and show me some of your favorites?” Her raised eyebrows wiggled and her voice lowered in a suggestive tone as she smirked.

I laughed and rolled my eyes at her before getting up from my seat and walking around the desk to stand next to Claire. She subtly grabbed my hand and I pulled her in the direction of the romance section, which was _conveniently _located in a more…secluded section of the third floor.

Arriving on the third floor and walking to the back where most of the romance books were kept, Claire, still holding my hand, tightened her grip and pulled me between the stacks and forced me up against it, pressing her lips against mine in an aggressive and passionate manner which took my breath away and made me feel light-headed. A tingling sensation spread through me, burning under my skin. She pulled away all too soon, breathing heavily, a light blush dusting her cheeks and a smile on her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said breathlessly, “but I really needed to do that. I’ve been going crazy all day and I needed to see you.” I smiled at her and glanced down quickly before meeting her blue eyes.

“You too, huh?”

“My God it’s been awful!” Claire threw her head back as she sighed out the words. I giggled and pulled her close, my arms flying up to the back of her neck, and I buried my face into her long hair. Claire inhaled deeply and let out a low content hum. “I missed you,” she muttered.

“It’s only been a day,” I said and Claire groaned a little. “I missed you too.” Claire smiled and leaned back in for another kiss which I whole-heartedly accepted. Her hands slid down my body, stopping and resting firmly on my hips. The kiss was softer than before, gentler but still filled with the same level of passion.

The rest of the week continued on like that. On the days that I had work, Claire would come to the library under the ploy of needing help with an assignment or looking for a particular book, and I would step out from the desk, leading her back to our spot hidden in the stacks and we would just…take a break. I loved it. It was thrilling to do something so intimate in such a public setting; the fear of someone—a student or another librarian—finding us loomed over our heads as we continued to meet and explore each other in the stacks, but we didn’t care because it only added fuel to the passion.

Claire’s hands lowered from their usual place on my hips down to rest against the sides of my thighs. She groaned and buried her face into my neck, placing small kisses against my pulse point and gently nibbling the skin. God! what was she doing to me? I smiled and giggled at the fluttering feeling that erupted in my chest and my stomach whenever Claire kissed me, especially on my neck. I placed my hands on her lower back and pulled her closer to me, flinching just a little when her knee slid between my legs.

“Sorry,” she breathed out, laying her forehead against mine and closing her eyes.

“It’s fine,” I whispered. Claire brushed her lips across my forehead in a gentle kiss. Her arms moved from my thighs back to my waist and her head left mine, lowering back down to my lips, capturing them once more. I moved my lips against hers hungrily, longing to feel her more. I leaned up off the stack of books and stepped closer to her, pulling her into me. Claire dropped her hands down to the backs of my thighs and gripped them tightly as she jerked upwards, lifting me up and pressing me against the stack once again. I squealed at the sudden movement and giggled against Claire’s lips.

I wrapped my legs around Claire’s waist and she stepped further in the open space, pressing herself closer to me. I felt her smile against my lips and my body warmed in response. Whatever fire that burned under my skin flooded into stomach, exploding into pure ecstasy. And I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it or of Claire and I wanted to feel it again. I craned my neck as Claire once again moved her lips from mine and back to my neck, offering her more space. I gasped and closed my eyes as she nibbled with more ferocity and hunger than before. I tensed a bit when her teeth scraped against my skin and my breath hitched. I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my lips as Claire continued to move against me slightly, creating a little bit of friction.

I was lost in my own little world where it was just me, Claire, and the stacks that kept our intimacy a secret from the rest of the world. I was lost in the bliss that I didn’t hear the familiar heavy set of footsteps on the linoleum floor coming our way.

“Hey Wanda, you up here? I was wondering what you wanted to do for din—what the _fuck_?!”

My eyes snapped open and Claire immediately pulled herself from my neck. Both our heads looked over to the right where the voice of Pietro came from. He stood at the front of the stacks, staring at me and Claire with shocked eyes and his mouth wide open in disbelief. Fear took over in my eyes and my body froze. Despite the warmth of Claire’s body, I felt cold. Caught off guard, Claire’s hands on my thighs started to slip, causing me to fall a bit, but she reacted quickly to help me settle myself back onto my feet.

Pietro crossed his arms over his broad chest and in an act of intimidation, he puffed out his chest and stood taller as he walked down the aisle of the two stacks that me and Claire stood between. He stopped and stood directly in front of Claire, his eyes hard and full of…anger? I felt my face heat up profusely in embarrassment and I shifted my weight onto my right foot and looked down, away from him and Claire. His harsh glare moved between us, making me uncomfortable, before it settled on me.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asked the both of us, though it was directed more at me. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw Claire subtly move closer to me, standing a little in front of me, acting like a shield, protecting my from my overprotective brother. Claire shrugged and matched Pietro’s harsh stare.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied nonchalantly. Pietro’s face contorted at her answer, his anger and frustration bubbling over turning his face a bright red. It was always a funny sight, watching Pietro get angry; it reminded me of when we were children, and his face would turn to this same shade of red and his cheeks would puff out making him look like a chipmunk, and then he would either cry or throw a temper tantrum—which now that I think about it, usually involved crying. But it wasn’t funny this time. Rather than him puffing out his cheeks, his jaw locked, clenching hard and emphasizing his displeasure. I’ve never actually seen him _this _angry. This was like…real anger compared to what I’ve seen before.

“Don’t pull that bullshit with me. I know what I saw,” he spat out, taking another step closer to Claire, causing the both of us to take a step back. Fear flickered on Claire’s face, but as quickly as it came, it left. “Now why the hell was my baby sister pressed against the shelves with your hands all over her?”

I flinched at the loudness of his voice. Claire opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, Pietro cut her off. “Who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right to take advantage of her like this? You know, she’s a sweet girl and doesn’t need you and your bullshit so why don’t you just—”

I furrowed my brows from behind Claire when I heard my brother’s words. I replayed them over and over in my head, getting more and more angry each time I heard them. I could tell Claire was also getting angry; her hand which fell limp at her side beside mine clenched in a tight fist, her knuckles turning white. I saw it shake a bit as her anger built inside her. Carefully I reached out and took her closed hand in mine, soothing it and opening it up to release the tension and to keep her fingernails from piercing her skin, but the gesture did little to help her. Her chest heaved from the deep breaths she was taking, but Pietro didn’t notice. He just continued to yell and lecture.

“Who do you think I am? Who do you think _you _are? Claire exploded. “You’re the one who tried to set us up, don’t forget! Do you remember that? When you gave your sister’s phone number to a complete stranger that _you _had a conversation with for all of…five minutes? Does that ring any bells? And remember whenever we would talk and you’d be making not-so-subtle gestures at us because we agreed on something? You’ve been pushing for us to get together since _we _met, and now you have some big issue with it?” Pietro stared at her in shock. She was now stepping forward, backing Pietro up back down the aisle, her finger wagging and poking him in the chest accusingly as she made each point, throwing his whole irrational accusation back in his face. “And by the way, we weren’t doing _anything_. It’s not something that’s out of the ordinary. I was kissing my _girlfriend_, and believe me buddy, it wasn’t the grossest thing people have done in here.”

Pietro’s eyes were wide and he looked between me and Claire. His anger had dissipated and he was left with only confusion and slight embarrassment. I walked towards them, standing next to Claire and took her hand once more, softly massaging it by running my thumb in soothing patters across the surface and moving to the inside of her palm. Pietro cleared his throat and blinked a few times.

“How…how long has this been going on?” he asked in a much calmer voice. “You two dating, not your…intimate excursions in the library.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes at him. “It’s not like we’ve been having sex in here, Pete,” I said, the “duh” implied through my attitude. “It’s still kind of new; we’ve only been together for a week. We’re not labeling right now.”

“Yeah, we’re just trying to see if it works,” Claire said, finally relaxing against my touch and intertwining her fingers with mine. I looked over her and smiled, and she followed.

“I think it works.” Her smile brightened and my face became hot again. Pietro cleared his throat, gaining our attention again.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?”


	7. The Talk (Claire’s POV)

The loud chatter of the diner only intensified the awkward air around us. Pietro sat in the middle on one side of the booth while Wanda and I sat on the other side across from him. His hands were folded on top of the table and his eyes flickered between us. His face was void of any emotion and he remained silent for multiple minutes. The whole table was quiet, neither me nor Wanda spoke, the both of us just wrapped up in our own thoughts. In the time that we sat there, a waiter filtered past our table a total of five times, each time asking us if we were _sure _we didn’t want anything? On his fifth return to our table, just to get him off our backs, I ordered a burger, fries, and a large soda. Wanda and Pietro looked over at me, their brows knitted in confusion.

“What?” I asked. “I’m hungry and he wouldn’t leave us alone.”

Wanda turned around and faced Pietro again while he shrugged and ran a hand through his messy blonde hair, messing it up even more. He took one deep breath and slowly released it, laying his hands flat against the table.

“Okay. In a calm and rational way, please explain to me what exactly is happening,” he said in a quiet and calm voice. Wanda dropped her hand down onto the leather booth and reached out, grabbing mine. Very briefly my fingers brushed against her pulse point, feeling the erratic beating that amplified her nerves louder than her facial expressions.

My fingers laced around hers, calming her down instantly. Slowly, I raised our conjoined hands and rested them down on the table, watching as Pietro’s eyes moved down to our hands.

“Wanda and I are…together. We just got together and didn’t put a label on it, but if you had to call it something, I guess you could say we’re dating,” I said, tightening my grip on Wanda’s hand. She surprised me by reciprocating when I expected her to try to pull away. Pietro nodded. Wanda’s other hand wrapped around my arm and pulled herself closer to me.

“Claire and I confessed our feelings for each other earlier this week, and since then we’ve been testing the waters and so far, we’re happy.” She looked over at me and smiled such a beautiful and bright smile I thought I would go blind. I leaned my head down and kissed her forehead before resting my head against hers.

Our waiter came back again and placed a big plate in front of me and left. I picked up my knife and cut my burger in half and took a bite. My eyes rolled to the back of my head and I moaned at the taste, the grease dripping down my chin. Wanda grabbed a napkin and wiped the grease off me and took a French fry off my plate, popping it in her mouth. I nudged my plate towards her, silently offering her the other half of my burger. She smiled and hesitantly took the knife and cut the half again. Wanda excused herself and climbed out of the booth, disappearing as she walked towards the back.

“So…you two are on the same page…?” Pietro asked gesturing to me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my mouth full after I took another bite.

“You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t.”

“You two feel the same way about each other? There’s an…understanding?”

“Well, if I’m being honest, I’m not entirely sure the extent of her feelings, but as far as I know, yeah, we’re on the same page.”

His hands folded once again as he sat up and leaned forward a bit.

“How do _you_ feel about her?”

His question shocked me. I froze as a went to take another bite of my burger. Looking up at him, I set it back down on my plate and wiped my mouth. I looked down at the table in silence, collecting my thoughts. It was a silly question, honestly. I mean, now that he knew about us, it was clear to see that my feelings for Wanda were nothing short of genuine. But, maybe that’s not what he asked. What else would it be though? What other answer could I possibly give him besides that? Wait a second. That’s not even the main concern.

What _are_ my feelings for Wanda? I knew I liked her and felt a deeper connection with her, but was there anything more to it? Wanda was beautiful—there was no doubt about that—and she wasn’t the first girl that I found myself sexually attracted to, but my feelings for her went beyond that, I think. I wanted more from her than the usual women I found myself dating. With Wanda, I saw…I saw a future, which is something that I never saw before. I saw myself happy with Wanda years from now; I saw it after our first real conversation, and…I loved it—craved it.

When I was with Wanda, everything felt right. The way she made me feel could only be described as _right_. She could always make me laugh and smile when I was having a bad day, or whenever things got on my nerves or I was frustrated or angry or just in any kind of bad mood, Wanda was always there with a hug and an ear to listen to my problems. She’s a good person and an even greater friend and I in no way, shape, or form deserve to have her in my life. She got me more than _any _of the people—both men and women—that I’ve dated. She made me feel like I was valid as a person, like…like…like I deserved to be here. I never felt that way until I met Bucky and his family, and even then, sometimes the thought of being a burden crept up on me, and I felt more like the Barnes family’s obligation rather than their daughter. But ever since I got to know Wanda, I never once felt like that. I never wondered if she was only being nice to me out of pity or generosity or if she pretended around me. She was so…genuine. And I loved that about her.

But what were my feelings about her in terms of our relationship? Well, let’s think about this. Whenever I saw her, my heart sped up and skipped a few beats, and when she smiled I couldn’t help but smile back. When we touched, I felt those lame cliché tingles and when we kissed I swear there were fireworks going off. No person ever made me feel like this. Maybe it’s because I didn’t just _like _Wanda…Is it possible? Could this be_ love_?

Pietro sat across from me expectantly, staring deep into my purple-contacted eyes. His hands unfolded and he drummed his fingers on the tabletop. My heart started to race in anticipation. If he was trying to intimidate me, I gotta admit, it was working. I took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and released it, pretending not to hear not-so subtle trembling.

“Look Pietro, I’ll admit, I’m not quite sure how I feel about Wanda. But, I can assure you that I don’t want to hurt her. She means a lot to me and I am so grateful to have her in my life. She helps me in more ways than I deserve and has been there for me through a lot of shit. I don’t know a lot of people like her and—”

“I don’t think that’s what I meant,” he said, raising his hand as he interrupted me.

“Fine! Ever since Wanda came into my life, I’ve been feeling really weird about everything. I’m happier since I’ve met her and I feel really warm around her. I think…I think I…l-l-love her.”

“You love me?” My head snapped over to behind Pietro’s head where Wanda stood, her face flushed in a dark red that covered her whole face. Her green eyes stared at me but her fingers played with the many rings on her fingers. I felt myself freeze. “Claire? Did you say you loved me?”

I stood up from the booth and walked over to her. Pietro looked at us, still sitting in the booth.

“Yeah um…” I scratched the back of my head and drummed my fingers against my thighs nervously. “I…I think I love you.”

“Really?” Wanda’s eyes welled up with tears. My heart ached a bit and I stepped closer to her, taking her nervous hands into mine.

“Yeah. I love you, Wanda.”

“You really love me?”

Her uncertainty pierced me and I kissed her forehead and brushed my hand against her cheek.

“Of course, Wanda. Do…do you think I would lie to you?” The tears spilled from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks, onto my hand. Wanda wrapped her arms around me and buried her face into my neck and shoulder, her tears falling onto my jacket.

“No one ever said that to me,” she whispered. “At least no one really meant it. It was just something they said to get me into their bed.”

My heart broke as Wanda cried on my shoulder. I ran my hands up and down her back, rubbing soft patterns over the fabric of her sweater and placed a kiss on her temple. Pietro stood from the table awkwardly and looked at me, mothing that he was going to the bathroom, his face looking a little red. I nodded my head and he disappeared in the direction of the bathrooms, giving us some space.

I walked us back over to the booth and sat her down in the spot where Pietro was just sitting, still rubbing her back soothingly. Her muffled cries started to quiet down until it was just a soft whimper, and after a minute, she pulled her face from my shoulder and wiped her face. Her face was red and blotchy and though she was only crying for a few minutes, her eyes were starting to puff and the little bit of make-up that she was wearing smeared from her tears and from burying her face into my shoulder, staining her cheeks. And yet, she was still incredibly beautiful.

I scooted closer to her and draped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheeks, helping her wipe her tears and make-up away. She slowly turned her head and looked at me with her large green eyes and a little pout.

“Please tell me this isn’t a dream,” she whispered, her hands flying to my arms gripping me tightly. I pulled her into me, resting her head against my chest, her ear right above my heart, and placed a kiss on the top of her head while inhaling the scent of her hair.

“This isn’t a dream, baby. I love you, Wanda, with my whole entire heart. You make being at this school away from the only family I’ve ever known worth it. You make me happier than I’ve ever been and when I see you, I feel things that I’ve never felt before. God! My life got infinitely better since you came into it. I wish I was able to explain to you how you make me feel and what you do to me, but at the moment, I can only show you.”

Before she could question what I meant, I pressed my lips against hers, slightly pushing her against the back of the booth. Her arms instinctively snaked around the back of my neck as she moved against me. She briefly took control of the kiss and pushed back against me, making my back hit the booth as she moved and sat in my lap, straddling me. I moaned against her lip and shoved my fingers into her thick hair, gripping tiny fistfuls and tugging just a little.

The sound of a throat clearing scared us and Wanda jumped up and quickly climbed off my lap. Her long hair fell over her shoulder and into her face, creating a curtain of hair that hides her from Pietro’s stare. I feel her shift in the booth, resting her forehead against the back of my shoulder, “increasing” her stealth. Pietro stood beside the table with his arms crossed over his chest and his face contorted in a playful smirk.

“You two _do _realize that you’re in the middle of a quite public diner, right?” he asked with a sense of humor in his husky voice. He sat back down in the booth and looked over at us, this time, seeming more at ease. “Look you guys, after a bit of soul-searching, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not angry with the fact that you two are dating. I understand that I pushed heavily for this, and that my reaction in the library was completely out of line, and for that I’m sorry. Claire, I had no right to doubt your feelings for my sister or suspect your intentions. Please understand that Wanda is all I have and unfortunately she’s been hurt before by people that she cared about. I don’t want that to happen again.”

I nodded in understanding. I knew where he was coming from with the whole overprotective brother act; Bucky was the same way with a lot of my past relationships. “Yeah no, I get it. But you don’t have to worry, I would never hurt Wanda the way that those assholes have before.”

“Not that I don’t believe you, but I’ve heard that before. But…I trust you Claire.” Pietro gave me a small smile and stretched out his hand. I reciprocated and grasped his hand firmly and gave it a curt shake. Wanda grabbed onto my arm and leaned her head against it, beaming and blushing.

The rest of the evening was much smoother. Now that we had gotten the “business talk” out of the way, Wanda and Pietro ordered some food and I got another order of fries and some onion rings. We ate and laughed and acted as if this whole day wasn’t incredibly awkward.

○○○

Wanda leaned against the closed door of our room and sighed heavily. I got up from my bed and walked over to her, taking her into my arms and kissing her temple. She nuzzled her head against my shoulder and her hands fell to my lower back.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

“Hmm.”

I froze a bit, accidentally tensing up and stared straight ahead. What if I crossed a line? I mean, Wanda didn’t really tell me that she loved me back. What if she wasn’t there yet? What if I was rushing her to reciprocate? I didn’t want to come off too strong. God! what is wrong with me? I always do this. I always move too fast in a new relationship and it always backfires on me—

Wanda’s chuckling snapped me from my thoughts and her grip on me tightened. She pulled away a little bit and kissed my cheek.

“That’s right. I do love you. You’re my little loveable dork.” She pinched my cheek and walked away from me, grabbed her shower caddy, towel, and pajamas and left the room, leaving me grinning from ear to ear probably looking like a fool. I thought it wasn’t possible, but my smile grew and my face started to hurt. She loved me!


	8. Not So-Goodnight (Wanda’s POV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning: This chapter features a nightmare involving a car accident. It might be triggering for some people and may be graphic.

_For some reason, I was outside. It was dark and the air was muggy and the streets were wet, clearly showing that it had just rained. Claire was nowhere to be found and neither was the familiar layout of my campus. But there was something…eerily familiar about this empty country road. A chill ran down my spine as I looked up and down the road, looking for any sign of life and finding none. Where was I? Why was I here?_

_Bright headlights appeared down the road to my left. I quickly zoomed by me, and dread and foreboding filled me. Something was wrong about that car and where it was going. I continued to watch it go, it never leaving my line of vision. It kept going and going and going, not really…going anywhere, which confused me. Suddenly, the car spun out, spinning fast in a circle before ramming fiercely into a large tree. I quickly ran over to the car, desperate to try to save whoever was in there. _

_I gasped loudly and clamped my hand over my mouth upon seeing the driver and passenger. My father’s head laid against the steering wheel, eyes wide open and blood pouring from a large gash on the side of his head. Broken shards of glass pierced his hands and his legs were squished between the seat and the bottom of the car. My mother’s head rested against the headrest. Her arms were broken a twisted at weird angles and glass pierced her skin too. A large bruise formed on the side of her face and blood was soaking through her white blouse. Both of them sat unmoving and silent. They were gone, no way to save them. _

_The deafening sound of crashing metal and glass breaking filled my ears and echoed through my brain, making me cringe and cover my ears. My eyes slammed shut as I tried to escape the noise, but it didn’t work. Tears streamed down my cheeks and my body shook as loud screaming haunted me. I folded in on myself on the wet grass beside the car, tucking my head between my knees, my hands still covering my ears. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening._

_“Wanda?” A voice called out to me, but I ignored it. The frightening screaming got louder._

_“Wanda! Wanda!” the voice called again. I felt someone shaking me, but I didn’t want to leave. I _couldn’t _leave. I had to stay. For them. I wasn’t with them last time, and now, now I had to be here._

_“Wanda, please. Wake up! Wake up!”_

My eyes shot open to see Claire’s worried face staring at me, her hands firmly on my shoulders. She breathed out a heavy sigh as her eyes met mine, and her hands moved onto mine. She backed up away from my face and sat on the edge of my bed. I sat up in bed, trembling and moved closer to her, wrapping my arms around her. Her hands flew to my back and she held me while I cried. She pulled us further onto my bed and crossed her legs and pulled me into her lap, running her fingers through my hair.

“It’s okay, baby. It was just a nightmare. You’re okay. I’m here.”

“I saw them, Claire,” I said as I tried to calm down. Claire’s hands faltered for a second before quickly resuming.

“You saw who, Little Red?” she asked gently. “Who did you see?”

“My parents.” Claire continued to stroke my hair, though she was quiet for a little bit.

“Do…do you want to talk about it?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Claire said as she leaned her head against mine.

“I saw them. In the car.” My breath hitched and shuddered. “They were dead.”

The tears came back and my body shook once more. Claire’s arms tightened around me and her chin rested against my head. She whispered a soft song into my ear and rubbed my back, doing everything to calm me down. Claire laid us down on my bed, resting my head against her chest. She pulled the blanket over us kissed my head and continued to hold me. I clutched the fabric of her shirt and buried my face into the stray strands of her curly red hair.

“It was just a dream, baby. Try to get some sleep.”

“Please don’t leave me,” I cried. She held onto me tighter and turned her head to face me, resting her cheek on top of my head, nuzzling me.

“I’m not going to leave you. Go to sleep, Wanda. I’ll be here when you wake up.”


	9. Christmas Meeting (Claire’s POV)

The autumn months quickly passed by, and the time only strengthened our relationship. Wanda and I went on a few dates so far, though most of them were supervised by Pietro. I could tell that it bothered Wanda a lot, but to be honest, I was a little fine with it. Wanda and I would always have the privacy of our room, and outside of that…we always had the library.

Soon winter had come. Snow blanketed the ground around campus, bright multicolored lights hung around different buildings, Santas stood on street corners, and the classic catchy Christmas tunes played on the local radio station. Wanda loved Christmas, and as soon as the weather started getting cooler, she went out to the closest store and bought a few boxes of lights, a small tree, and some ornaments. She constantly hummed Christmas music and when she wasn’t humming, she had the radio on, tuned to the station that played the music 24/7. I didn’t mind though. I loved seeing her happy. I loved seeing her passionate about something. The smile on her face grew bigger and brighter each day as all her free time went into decorating, wrapping gifts that she bought, and studying for finals. Believe it or not, she was a very good multi-tasker.

Wanda sat on her bed, a textbook open on her bed in front of her, and a half-wrapped box in her lap. Her eyes moved from the box to the book in a steady pace, spending a few minutes studying, and a few minutes wrapping.

“Aha! Finally!” she exclaimed, causing me to look up at her.

“What is it?”

“I’ve finally finished wrapping the last present,” she said holding up the small box and getting off her bed to place it on the floor by her desk “under the tree” with the others. “And I’m also done studying. For now at least.” She closed her textbook and put it in her bag before coming over and jumping on my bed, resting her head in my lap. I giggled at her and moved my book to the side.

“What exams do you have tomorrow?” I asked her as I grasped her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. She smiled and kissed my knuckles.

“Just history. There are some things that I still don’t know, but I think I’ll be alright.” I kissed her forehead and brushed some hair out of her face. “Ionako ne bi trebalo biti tako teško (It shouldn’t be that hard anyway).”

“Pa, verujem u tebe (Well, I believe in you),” I told her slowly, still not quite getting the language. Wanda’s smile turned into a bright grin. I had decided to take a page out of Natasha and Steve’s book and learn her language. She once told me that her parents were immigrants from a small country in Eastern Europe, and while she didn’t speak it often, the language always reminded her of happy memories of her family.

“Ah! Vrlo dobro, ljubavi moja (Ah! Very good, my love),” she replied, a light blush highlighting her pale cheeks. “What else can you say?”

“Umm…oh. Volim te moja draga…kada (I love you my lovely…bathtub),” I said hesitantly, tripping on some of the words. Wanda burst into a loud fit of laughter and rolled off of me, her face turning a brighter shade of red. I smiled and rolled my eyes at her, picking my textbook back up and flipping the page.

“I’m sorry, love,” she said still laughing, “I’m not really laughing at you.”

“What did I say?” I asked rolling my eyes again.

“You called me a ‘lovely bathtub’.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be!” she exclaimed, sitting up and lightly slapping my arm. “You’re still learning, and let me tell you, I’m very proud of you.” 

She leaned over a pecked me on the lips and settled back into my lap, pulling the book away.

“Wanda, I need to study.”

“Really? Well, I can help you,” she said as she wrapped her legs around my waist and kissed along my face, moving down my jaw and to my neck. I chuckled and brought my book around behind her and continued to read.

“Baby, I love you and under any other circumstance, I would be totally interested in this, but I _really _need to study,” I muttered, trying really hard to not give in to her…charm. Wanda pulled away and pouted just a little but respected my wishes and climbed off me. She got off the bed and walked over to the mini fridge and smirked at me and mouthed “later.” She grabbed a bottle of water and sat back down on my bed, resting against the wall, and crossed her legs.

“So, what are we doing about Christmas break?” I looked over at her saw her biting her lower lip and playing with her rings. Nervousness radiated off of her and it worried me. I closed the book and place it next to me and scooted closer to her, taking her hand in mine.

“What do you want to do about Christmas?”

“Umm…I was kind of wondering if you um…wanted to spend Christmas with…me?”

I chuckled and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into me. Her arms circled around my back and hugged me. She snuggled into my side and I felt her smile, becoming more at ease.

“Wanda, I would love to spend Christmas with you, but I usually spend it with Bucky,” I said softly and hesitantly.

“I’m sure no one would mind if you and Bucky came by…”

“Wanda are you sure?”

“Yeah. We’ll be staying with our great aunt in her apartment and she’s…really old and we don’t really celebrate much because of it, so it’ll be nice to have people over…”

“Oh Wanda, I don’t want to impose on you and your family like that, I would feel really weird—” 

“Claire, I promise it’s okay. She loves meeting new people and plus, it would give me the chance to introduce her to my girlfriend,” Wanda said, poking my side when she said girlfriend. “And, if you come, we can also tell Bucky, so two birds one stone.”

I laughed and kissed her temple. “You make a compelling argument. You’re sure no one will mind if me and Bucky show up?”

“The only person who would object would be Pietro and he loves you, so yes, I’m sure that it’s fine. Please come. I would love to meet Bucky.”

I thought about it and sighed. It would take a whole lot of convincing to get Bucky to come, but I think it’s doable. “Alright, we’ll come.”

○○○

The car ride was quiet as Bucky kept his eyes on the road, the low hum of Christmas music played in the background. He sighed, rolled up the sleeves of his coat, and looked over at me.

“Are you sure this is okay? I mean, we barely know these people,” he said after a moment. I sighed and leaned my head back against the seat.

“Yes, Bicky. Wanda assured me that this was okay. She really wants to meet you.”

“I didn’t think meeting your sister’s roommate constituted spending Christmas together. But hey, saves me a drive to mom and dad’s.”

The rest of the drive was pretty chill and before I knew it, we arrived at the small apartment complex and got out of his blue beetle.

“I mean it Bicky, you really need to consider getting a new car,” I joked, smacking him playfully on the arm. He smiled nudged me in the side.

“Yeah, well, when you get a well paying job, you can buy your own bigger car.”

“Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes. He chuckled and we both entered the building “She’s in room 215.” Bucky nodded and led us to the elevator and pressed the second floor button and waited for the doors to close.

“You got the potatoes?” he asked, looking over at me. I nodded and he continued. “And the gifts?”

“Yes, Bicky. Calm down, everything will be fine.” I wished I could follow my own advice. My heart was beating erratically, pounding away at the inside of my chest in a loud and painful rhythm. My palms started to sweat and I was worried that I would lose my grip on the boxes in my hands. I don’t know why I was so nervous. I was familiar with Wanda and with Pietro so this dinner shouldn’t be weird, right? Right. The elevator dinged and the metal doors opened, revealing a simply decorated hallway. We stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall in the direction of Wanda’s apartment. The nervous feeling sunk in my chest and my breathing quickened as we stood outside the door. Bucky looked over at me and placed a hand on my shoulder, startling me.

“Claire Bear, you okay? You’re looking a little pale.”

“I’m fine,” I gulped and squeaked out. He raised a brow but nodded anyway and knocked on the door. The sound of quickened footsteps on the other side of the door were heard right before it swung open, revealing Wanda wearing an ugly red Christmas sweater that looked beautiful on her, light make-up with red lipstick, a black velvet skirt, and her long auburn hair curled nicely and falling loosely over her shoulders. She smiled brightly when she saw me and bounced a little out of the apartment, hugging me tightly. It took everything in me to shove her up against the wall and kiss her right here and now.

“Hi! I’m so glad you came!” she exclaimed pulling away, blushing a little. She looked over at Bucky and held out her hand. “You must be Bucky. Hi, I’m Wanda, Claire’s…roommate.”

Bucky smiled at her and took her hand, shaking it. “It’s nice to meet you, Wanda. Thank you for inviting us.”

“Oh of course! Come on it, you guys must be starving.” She led us into the apartment that was decorated with bright white lights, tinsel, garland, stockings, and a beautifully decorated tree with presents under it. Light Christmas music played throughout the apartment. “You guys make yourselves at home. Dinner will be ready in a little bit. I’ll tell Pietro and my aunt that you’re here. Can I get you anything? Something to drink? A snack?”

“We’re fine, Wanda. Here, we brought this,” I held out the bowl of mashed potatoes and she took it, smiling again.

“You didn’t have to…”

“Oh please, we wanted to. We felt a little bad about intruding on your family Christmas, so we just wanted to contribute.”

“Claire, you and Bucky are _not _intruding! I invited you but thank you. I appreciate it.” I thought her smile couldn’t get any brighter. I felt my face heat up as her beautiful green eye twinkled in the white Christmas lights. Her face got redder and she cleared her throat. “Alright, well, I’ll just put this in the kitchen and get my aunt. Bathrooms are down the hall and to the left, and…yeah.” She breathed out a chuckle and disappeared down the hall.

“She seems nice,” Bucky whispered nudging my arm. If only he knew. Wanda came back into the room a little while later, holding the arm of a small older woman and gently leading her into the room.

“Aunt Grace, this is my roommate Claire and her brother Bucky,” she said to the older woman. Grace took a shaky step forward and took my hand.

“It is nice to meet you, dear. Wanda has told me so much about you.” I smiled at her and patted her hand.

“Thank you for having us, Ms—”

“Please, call me Grace.”

“Thank you for having us, Grace. You have such a lovely home,” I told her. She smiled and pulled me down to her level and gently kissed my cheek.

“Have you seen your brother?” she asked as she turned back to Wanda.

“He’s in the kitchen still, I think. I’ll get him. Why don’t you have a seat, auntie,” Wanda said as she led her aunt to sit on the couch and disappeared down the hall again. After a minute, Pietro appeared, wiping his hands on the apron he was wearing, and walked over to us and gave me a hug.

“Claire, it’s good to see you. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Pietro.” He looked over at Bucky. “Pietro, this is my brother, Bucky. Bucky this is Wanda’s twin brother, Pietro.”

The two guys shook hands and exchanged pleasantries before Pietro walked over to Grace and kneeled beside her.

“Can I get you anything, auntie?” he asked her softly. She shook her head and waved him off.

“No, no. Go help your sister.” He nodded and left the room, walking back to the kitchen.

“So, Claire. How was school?” Grace asked me, placing a hand on my knee.

“School was fine. A little stressful, but I got through it. Wanda was a big help though. She helped me study and to relax afterwards. She’s such a good…friend,” I said, careful not to give out too much information. I wasn’t sure how much Grace knew about the nature of my relationship with Wanda. Grace smiled and lightly squeezed my knee. Wanda came skipping back into the room, her long hair bouncing along, and her smile bright.

“Dinner’s ready, you guys.” She walked over and held out her arm for Grace and slowly led her into the dining room, Bucky and I following in tow. The large wooden table was covered in a beautiful red tablecloth with green place mates, two candle sticks, novelty Christmas salt and pepper shakers, and beautiful Christmas plates and glasses. A large ham and multiple bowls of sides sat in the center of the table. Wanda led Grace over to a chair and helped her into it while taking her glass and filling it with a little bit of wine.

Wanda and Pietro helped dish out the food and filled the glasses with soda and wine (for Bucky) before sitting down and saying a quick prayer. Wanda sat next to me and Pietro sat next to Bucky on the other side of the table. I saw Wanda glance at me all throughout the meal, her knee brushing against mine. She was driving me crazy! God!

The dinner went by smoothly. Much to mine and Wanda’s pleasure, Bucky and Pietro were getting along and had a lot of things in common such as sports. Ugh! Cliché I know, but surprisingly they both had a love for soccer and spent the rest of dinner talking about it. When dinner was over, Wanda stood up and started to gather our plates.

“I’ll help you, Wanda,” I said, stopping Pietro as he stood up, and gathered the rest of the dirty dishes. I took the dishes and followed Wanda into the kitchen, placing them on the counter, and ran the faucet and dumped the plates in the sink. I grabbed the bottle of soap and squeezed some onto the sponge that sat next to the sink and began scrubbing the dirty dishes. Once they were clean, I passed them to Wanda who dried them and put them away.

“Please tell me this is as torturous for you as it is for me,” she said in a whisper so low that I almost didn’t hear her over the sound of the running faucet. I paused mid-washing and turned toward her. She was looking at me with a small frown and a small blush. For the first time tonight she looked…sad. I knew she was hurting, having to hide herself from her family; I knew how it felt, and tonight was more painful than I thought it would be. I dropped the plate in the sink and rushed to her, firmly pressing my lips against hers and wrapping my arms around her. She responded by snaking her arms around me and moving her lips against mine.

I pulled away from her and left kisses all over her face, causing her to blush and giggle.

“God, yes. I’ve been dying.”

“I want to tell her, but…I’m scared, Claire. What if she doesn’t accept me for me? What if she’s disappointed in me? What if…she doesn’t love me anymore?” I held her tightly, trying to ease her worries and fears while also pushing back my own. I knew what she was going through. Coming out to Bucky was hard in the moment, but I felt much better once I did. I knew Wanda was really worried and really scared about telling her aunt about us, mostly because she hadn’t come out to her yet.

“Wanda, your aunt loves you. This isn’t going to ruin that, I promise.”

“That’s not something you can promise, Claire. I’ve read stories where people thought the same about their families, and next thing they know, there’s screaming and hurtful words and disowning! I-I can’t go through that, I just can’t—”

“Wanda, calm down. It’ll be okay, baby,” I whispered to her, rubbing her back.

“Bucky…knows about you right?”

“Yeah he does. He just doesn’t know that we’re together.”

“What was it like? When you came out to him?” Wanda’s green eyes became big with worry as she looked up at me.

“It…was a little nerve-wracking at first, and he was quiet for a little while so I thought I would die, but then he hugged me and we both kinda cried a bit. It actually brought us closer,” I said, hoping to instill some confidence in her and inspire her to not give in to her fears. “I’ll be with you whenever you decide to tell her.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Why don’t we tell her when we’re finished with the dishes? That way we can get it over with.” She nodded her head and we both went back to cleaning the dishes. When we finished, we entered into the living room where Pietro, Bucky and Grace sat on the couch talking to each other. The light Christmas music still played in the background and Grace’s face lit up upon seeing Wanda. She patted the seat next to her on the couch, and Wanda sat beside her, taking her wrinkled hand in hers, patting it gently.

“Auntie Grace, there’s something that I have to tell you,” she said to her. Grace patted her hand and rested it on top of Wanda’s, smiling at her.

“What is it, dear? Are you alright? You look pale.” I kneeled down on the floor next to Wanda and grabbed onto her free hand, stroking the top of it with my thumb.

“Auntie, there’s something I need you to know.” She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Umm…I’m…I’m…I’m gay.”

Grace was silent, and her body seemed to freeze. Her eyes widened a little and her mouth opened a bit in surprise.

“I’m gay and am in a relationship with Claire.”

Bucky looked over at me and got off the couch, walking over to me. I stood up from where I was kneeling and ran my now sweaty hand down the length of my pants, wiping them off.

“So…you and Wanda are dating? So, she’s not just your roommate?”

“Yeah, we’ve been dating for a few months now,” I say, my proud smile peeking through. Bucky smiled and pulled me into a big bear hug. The weight had been lifted from my shoulders and a small tear fell from my eyes and onto Bucky’s jacket.

“I love you, Claire Bear,” he whispered in my ear. More tears rolled down my cheeks. I knew he loved and accepted me, but it was nice to know that he also approved of my relationship.

“I love you too, Bicky,” I muttered, trying hard not to cry. Grace still sat still on the couch, not saying a word. I pulled away from Bucky and walked over to her, placing my hands on her shoulders. Grace looked up at me and back down at Wanda. I could tell that Wanda was falling apart on the inside, though I was a little surprised at how well she was holding it together on the outside. Grace patted her hands and looked down at the floor, taking a deep breath and placing a hand on her cheek.

“Wanda, my dear. My child. My…the closest thing I have to a daughter. No matter what anyone says or what you are or who you are attracted to, nothing will change the fact that I love you. You—and your brother—are my greatest loves, and I am so proud of you.”

Grace pulled Wanda into her arms and hugged her as tightly as her old bones would let her, and Wanda reciprocated, finally letting the dam burst. The built up tears streamed down her cheek, leaving streak mark trails of mascara down her face. Wanda and Grace pulled away and Grace took out a handkerchief and wiped Wanda’s face, drying her tears but also smudging her make-up. She pulled Wanda’s face close to hers and kissed her forehead and caressed her cheeks, staring deep into her eyes with a gentle and loving smile. Wanda excused herself and left the room. She was only gone for a minute, but when she came back, her face was clean and free of make-up, except for her red lipstick. I walked over to her and embraced her, planting a big and passionate kiss on her lips, almost forgetting that our families were there in the room with us.

A wolf-whistle coming from behind us caused us to break apart, blushing furiously. Wanda pulled up the sleeves of her sweater and covered her face with her hands, giggling. Pietro got off the couch and embraced her, rubbing her back and kissing her head.

Wanda skipped over to me and grabbed my hand and pulled me to the tree and sat me down next to her. Smiling brightly, she placed a large beautifully wrapped box in my lap. I sent her a look and began to tear the paper off the box. I ripped open the box, revealing a small white envelope. I raised a brow at her and took the envelope out of the box.

“Just open it,” Wanda said and rolled her eyes, playfully slapping my knee. I laughed at her and opened the envelope, gasping when I saw the contents.

“What is it, Claire?” Bucky asked sitting back down on the couch. I pulled out the two tickets and held them up to show Bucky.

“These are…John Mulaney tickets?” I asked, my face freezing in surprise. Wanda giggled and clapped her hands together and nodding her head as she bounced on her knees. I dropped the tickets on the floor next to me and threw my arms around her in a tight, bone crushing hug. “I love you so much!”

“I’m glad you like it!” I pulled away from her and kissed her cheek. “Just so you know, the seats are probably not that great.”

“That’s fine! It doesn’t matter, I’ve just always wanted to see him!” I hugged her again before reaching under the tree and pulling out a box that I brought that was labeled for Wanda and handed it to her.

She took off the paper and opened the box, revealing a framed portrait of the two of us. She looked up at me, her big green eyes twinkling in the Christmas lights, and her plump red lips spreading into a gorgeous smile. Her eyes started to water and she rested her head against my shoulder and wrapped her arms around my arm.

“Thank you. I love it.”

“I’m glad baby.” I turned and kissed her temple. Grace smiled at us and placed a hand on her heart.

The rest of the gifts were exchanged between us and then we all gathered on the couch and watched “Elf.” Wanda snuggled up against me on the couch, her head leaning against my shoulder, and my arm draped around her shoulders. I kissed her head and intertwined our fingers, massaging her hand with my thumb. She hummed out in content and nuzzled into me. I sighed and relaxed into the couch, enjoying the feeling of her in my arms. I loved this, and I was glad that we didn’t have to hide anymore.

“I think this might be the greatest Christmas I’ve ever celebrated,” I whispered to her. She looked up at me and kissed my chin.

“Mine too.”


	10. Epilogue (Wanda’s POV)

I smoothed down the classic black gown and fixed my cap in the mirror of my room. A single knock sounded against my closed door and Pietro stuck his head in. He smiled at me and walked further into my room, hugging me.

“They would be proud of you,” he said in my ear.

“They would be proud of you too.”

“Are you ready?” he asked, pulling away from our hug. “Aunt Grace is in the car and all ready.” I nodded and grabbed my clutch and phone and followed him down the stairs and to the car. He got in the driver’s seat and started the car, heading in the direction of campus.

My phone buzzed with Claire’s familiar ringtone. I looked at the message—a picture of her and Bucky sitting in his blue beetle, Claire’s cap on his head, and her making a funny face while he stared out the windshield—and laughed.

**He looks good in that. Wonder what he’d look like in the whole ensemble…**

_Ha ha ha. Very funny, Little Red._

**;) **

_You on your way? I miss you :(_

**We just left. Be there soon. **

_Can’t wait to see you. I’ve been going crazy all morning wondering what you’re wearing ;)_

**Down girl. You’ll see soon enough lol.**

I put my phone down and looked out the window, watching the scenery change quickly as we passed. Pietro and Grace talked quietly in the front seat, her light voice full of happiness and excitement as she gushed pridefully about our accomplishments and our hard-work. She chirped at being able to see Claire again, and Bucky too. Over the past three years, her and Claire got really close. It made me happy that my aunt loved and approved of not only me, but my girlfriend as well. She spoke to Pietro about planning a party for us and Claire, making a mental list of all the things she needed to get from various stores. I chuckled and rolled my eyes at her; better to let her do her thing than try to stop her.

○○○

I stood in the lobby of the auditorium staring at my phone and looking around. Aunt Grace went in and got her seat, and Pietro went to sit with his friends. I watched as other people entered and went into the main hall to get their seats, waiting for Claire. She finally showed up and ran over to me, embracing me tightly. Her long red hair was straightened and she wasn’t wearing her purple contacts. Her nails were painted red and she smelled delicious, like cherry blossoms.

“Hey beautiful,” she said when she pulled away, plating a kiss on my cheek.

“Hey yourself. You’re late.”

“Yeah I know, and I’m sorry. We thought we made good time, but traffic was terrible.”

I linked my arm with hers and pulled her along into the auditorium. “Come on. Let’s go to our seats.” She started walking with me, but soon pulled me back to a stop. I turned to face her and raised a brow. She smirked and whipped out her phone and waved it in the air.

“Can I get a picture with my best girl?”

I smiled at her—my face heating up—and walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her, posing for the picture. She took a few shots before putting her phone in her clutch and linking my arm. She quickly pulled me in for kiss and then led me into the auditorium.

We took our seats and as the ceremony started, we both exchanged looks with each other, Claire making silly faces at me. Before I knew it, they started calling names. When my name was called, Claire stood up screaming and clapping, making me giggle and no doubt making me blush.

“That’s my girlfriend!” she yelled, causing most people in attendance to laugh and gush in awe. I took my diploma and walked back to my seat, waving her off while trying to hide my apparent blush. God, I love her.

○○○

Claire’s POV

I watched as the love of my life crossed the stage and received her diploma. She looked so beautiful as she carefully walked across the stage, her head tilted down as she watched her steps, making sure she didn’t trip in her heels. I shook my head and smiled; she never liked wearing heels because they always made her feel uncomfortable. I stood up from my seat and cupped my hands around my mouth and let out a loud whoop.

“That’s my girlfriend!” I exclaimed, clapping my hands and bouncing just a little bit. I heard people in the auditorium laugh and clap around me, but it didn’t matter. I saw Wanda look over at me from the stage, her face lighting up in a bright red tint, and she waved me off and laughed. I sat back down and watched as she got her diploma and left the stage, walking back to her seat. A few more names were called before they got to mine, and when they did, I heard Wanda’s beautiful voice scream out over the sound of the applause.

“I love you baby!”

“Way to go, Claire!”

I rolled my eyes and smiled at them. They were my family and I loved them dearly. The ceremony didn’t last long after that, and I stood next to Wanda, holding her tightly in my arms and kissing her sweetly. Wanda giggled and buried her face in my hair.

“I love you,” she whispered, placing a small butterfly kiss right below my earlobe.

“I love you too, Little Red.”

Bucky, Pietro and Grace walked over to us, Grace clapping her hands together with a bright smile on her face. Reaching us, she gave us both small hugs.

“Congratulations you two.” She turned her head more towards Wanda and hugged her again, lightly pinching her cheek. “Wanda, I am so proud of you. You have grown into a very beautiful and intelligent young woman and I know your parents would be very proud of you. I love you so much. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me.” Grace reached up and shakily wiped away Wanda’s fallen tears and pulled her into a hug once again.

“I love you too, Auntie Grace. Thank you. For everything.”

Grace and Wanda pulled out of the hug and Grace smiled as she pulled two small envelopes out of her purse, handing one to each of us.

“This is just a little something to say congratulations.”

“Oh, thank you, Auntie Grace.”

“Grace, you didn’t have to do this…”

“Oh, nonsense Claire. It’s no trouble and I wanted to do it. By now you’re as much a part of this family as you can get at the moment.” Grace opened her arms and I stepped forward into them, circling mine around her. “Congratulations, my dear. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you.” She turned her head and kissed my cheek.

“I love you, dearie. Don’t forget that,” she said in a playful stern voice, wagging her boney finger at me with a little smirk.

“I couldn’t forget, Grace. And I love you too.”

“You two get together for a picture,” Bucky said, pulling out his phone and turning it sideways. I grasped Wanda’s hand and pulled her close to me and wrapped an arm around her waist as we posed for the picture. Bucky took a few, and each one we changed our pose. The last one was of us kissing, her arms wrapped around my neck, and mine firmly grasping her hips, our caps lightly touching and pushing against each other, almost falling off our heads. It was safe to say I made that picture my background that day.


End file.
